THE  CHARITIES  OF 


ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


AN  EVALUATION 

OF 

HIS  IDEAS,  PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS 

A  Dissertation  Submitted  to  the 
Faculty  of  Philosophy  of  the 

t  • 

CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA 

IN  PARTIAL  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

BY 

i 

CYPRIAN  W.  EMANUEL,  O.  F.  M. 

Of  the  Province  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
SAINT  LOUIS.  MISSOURI 


CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA 

WASHINGTON.  D.  C. 


BX  4700  . V6  E42  1923 
Emanuel,  Cyprian  William, 
1890- 

The  charities  of  St.  Vincen 
_de  Paul, _ _ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/charitiesofstvinOOeman 


THE  CHARITIES  OF 

ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 

AN  EVALUATION 

OF 

HIS  IDEAS,  PRINCIPLES  AND  METHODS 


A  Dissertation  Submitted  to  the 
Faculty  of  Philosophy  of  the 

CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA 

IN  PARTIAL  FULFILMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

-  BY 

CYPRIAN  W.  EMANUEL,  O.F.  M. 

Of  the  Province  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
SAINT  LOUIS,  MISSOURI 


CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA 

WASHINGTON.  D.  C. 

1923 


NIHIL  OBSTAT: 


P.  L.  Biermann 


Censor  Librorum 


IMPRIMI  POTEST: 

Martin  Strub,  0.  F.  M. 

Minister  Provincial 


IMPRIMATUR : 

+  George  W.  Mundelein,  D.  D. 

Archbishop  of  Chicago 

Feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  June  8,  1923 


Copyright,  1923,  by 
Franciscan  Herald  Press 
Chicago 


REGAN  PRINTING  HOUSE,  CHICAGO 


58 


AUTHOR’S  FOREWORD 


The  Catholics  of  the  United  States  through  their  repre¬ 
sentative  leaders  and  social  agencies  have  within  recent 
years  evinced  an  increased  practical  interest  in  social  prob¬ 
lems  and  in  organized  efforts  of  charity.  This  waxing  in¬ 
terest  has  in  turn  created  on  the  part  of  both  individuals  and 
organizations,  irrespective  of  religious  affiliations,  a  grow¬ 
ing  demand  for  information  on  Catholic  principles  in  the 
field  of  social  reform  and  social  relief.  The  present  work 
has  been  undertaken  as  a  modest  attempt  to  respond,  though 
but  indirectly  and  partially,  to  this  demand. 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was  the  most  prominent  and  active 
dispenser  of  charity  in  modern  times.  He  busied  himself 
during  the  long  years  of  his  charitable  career  with  the  relief 
of  practically  every  form  of  human  need.  And  his  influence 
on  practical  charities  has  continued  down  to  our  own  day 
through  his  splendid  organizations,  especially  the  Priests 
of  the  Mission,  called  also  the  Vincentian  Fathers  or  Laza- 
rists,  and  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  Moreover,  his  principles 
and  methods  have  received  the  stamp  of  the  Church’s  ap¬ 
proval  through  his  formal  appointment  by  the  Holy  See  as 
the  patron  and  model  of  all  Catholic  charities. 

A  study  of  St.  Vincent’s  charities,  therefore,  not  only 
acquaints  us  with  the  Saint’s  personal  ideas,  principles  and 
methods  of  relief  while  giving  us  a  general  insight  into  the 
dispensation  of  charity  in  France  during  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  but  it  serves  at  the  same  time  to 
acquaint  us  with  many  of  the  principles  and  methods  that 
underlie  the  activities  of  Catholic  agencies  to-day. 

This  treatise  is,  then,  in  no  sense  hagiographical  or 
ascetical.  And  hence  it  is  not,  nor  is  it  intended  to  be,  a 
portrayal  of  the  whole  St.  Vincent,  but  only  of  St.  Vincent 
the  exponent  of  practical  charities.  It  has  been  the  endeavor 
of  the  author  throughout  to  isolate  the  natural  from  the 
supernatural  in  the  Saint’s  life  and  works,  in  as  far  as  it 

iii 


is  possible  to  do  so  in  a  life  where  the  two  elements  were 
so  intimately  associated,  and  to  submit  to  a  critical  scrutiny 
his  contributions  to  our  charities  in  the  realm  of  ideas, 
principles1  and  methods. 

The  present  work  is  based  on  the  most  reliable  documen¬ 
tary  evidence,  viz.,  the  Lettres,  Conferences  and  Reglements 
of  St.  Vincent,  and  his  best  biographies. 

It  is  commonly  estimated  that  Vincent  de  Paul  was  the 
author  of  not  less  than  30,000  letters  to  persons  of  every 
rank  and  calling  during  his  long  and  busy  life.  He  wrote 
them  in  his  own  hand  until  the  end  of  1645.  During  the  last 
fifteen  years  of  his  life,  however,  he  dictated  most  of  them 
to  his  secretary,  Frere  Ducourneau,  a  lay  brother  of  the  Con¬ 
gregation.  The  task  of  collecting  them  began  immediately 
after  his  death.  A  considerable  number  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  the  pillaging  of  Saint  Lazare  July  12-13,  1789.  Of 
those  that  remained,  together  with  others  recovered  later, 
some  few  were  published  in  1834  by  M.  Gossin  in  his  work 
Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  peint  par  ses  ecrits  (Paris)  ;  some 
were  published  by  M.  Etienne  in  1845;  some  were  incor¬ 
porated  by  M.  Feillet  in  his  work  La  misere  au  temps  de  la 
Fronde  et  saint  Vincent  de  Paul  (Paris,  1862)  and  by  Abbe 
Maynard  in  his  biography  of  the  Saint  (Paris,  1860;  re¬ 
vised  ed.  1874). 

After  1870  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  began  gathering 
all  available  letters  from  their  various  archives  in  anticipa¬ 
tion  of  making  them  accessible  to  the  members  of  the  Con¬ 
gregation  by  publishing  the  entire  collection  in  a  uniform 
edition.  Accordingly,  in  1880  the  Lettres  de  Saint  Vincent 
de  Paul  appeared  (for  private  circulation)  in  4  vols.  (Paris) . 
A  supplement  was  added  in  1888.  There  have  since  been 
published  Lettres  inedites  de  saint  Vincent  de  Paul  by  the 
Vincentian  historian,  Father  Coste,  in  Revue  de  Gascogne, 
1909  and  1911;  Lettres  choisies  de  saint  Vincent  de  Paul 
(Paris,  1911)  ;  and  the  epistolary  correspondence  between 
St.  Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity  in  Saint  Vincent  de 
Paul  et  les  Dames  de  la  Charite  by  Pierre  Coste,  C.  M.,  Paris, 

1  The  author  ha's  not  attempted  to  adhere  to  the  strict  etymological  dis¬ 
tinction  between  ideas  and  principles  in  the  first  two  sections  of  this  work. 
He  has  chosen,  more  or  less  arbitrarily,  to  have  the  former  comprise  only 
the  wider  and  more  general  social  views  of  Vincent  de  Paul,  while  the 
latter  are  limited  to  his  views  on  social  service  together  with  his  settled 
modes  of  action  resulting  therefrom. 

iv 


1917,  pp.  179-250.  The  total  number  of  letters  thus  pub¬ 
lished  is  approximately  3200. 2  The  edition  of  1880  was  made 
somewhat  hastily,  and  is  in  consequence  not  sufficiently  crit¬ 
ical,  especially  as  regards  dates.  A  new  edition  is  being 
prepared  at  the  mother  house  of  the  Congregation  of  the 
Mission  at  Paris  under  the  efficient  leadership  of  Father 
Coste. 

Two  distinct  sets  of  St.  Vincent’s  spiritual  conferences 
have  come  down  to  us,  viz.,  his  conferences  to  the  Priests  of 
the  Mission  and  his  conferences  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity. 
Vincent  did  not  deliver  these  conferences  from  manuscript, 
nor,  as  far  as  is  known,  did  he  even  write  them  out  in  sketch 
as  a  preparation.  But  the  Priests  and  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  committed  them  to  writing  almost  immediately 
either  from  notes  taken  during  the  conference  or  from 
memory.  So  faithfully  were  they  thus  reproduced  that  in 
many  cases  even  the  Saint’s  peculiar  expressions  and  modes 
of  speech  reappear.  Their  exactness  and  authenticity  have 
never  been  questioned. 

The  conferences  to  the  Missionaries  were  published  in 
1881  (Paris)  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  numbers  of  the 
Congregation  under  the  title  of  Avis  et  Conferences  Spirit- 
uelles  cle  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  aux  Membres  de  la  Con¬ 
gregation.  The  conferences  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity 
appeared  in  print  for  the  first  time  in  1803  (2  vols.).  In 
1825  and  1846  new  editions,  enlarged  with  additional  con¬ 
ferences,  made  their  appearance.  The  latest  edition,  entitled 
Conferences  de  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  aux  Filles  de  la 
Charite  (2  vols.),  was  gotten  out  in  1881  (Paris). 

Besides  the  conferences  mentioned  above,  we  have  also  a 
number  of  St.  Vincent’s  conferences  to  the  Ladies  of  Char¬ 
ity.  Most  of  these  have  been  preserved  only  in  sketch. 
They  were  published  in  1888  (Paris)  as  pp.  200-233  of 
Lettres  et  Conferences  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paid  (Supplement) 
and  in  1917  as  pp.  107-178  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paid  et  les 
Dames  de  la  Charite  (Pierre  Coste,  C.  M.,  Paris).  All  these 
various  conferences  have  been  studied  in  the  preparation  of 
this  work. 

St.  Vincent  drafted  rules  and  constitutions  for  the  Con¬ 
gregation  of  the  Mission,  for  the  Daughters  of  Charity  and 

2  I  he  author  studied  about  3.100  in  the  preparation  of  this  work. 

V 


for  the  various  lay  confraternities  of  charity.  Through  the 
courteous  kindness  of  the  Vincentian  Fathers  of  German¬ 
town,  Philadelphia,  the  author  was  permitted  to  study  the 
Rule  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  and  the  Common  Rule  of 
the  Daughters  of  Charity,  together  with  the  particular  regu¬ 
lations  compiled  by  St.  Vincent  for  the  Daughters  exercising 
their  charity  in  the  parishes,  as  also  the  constitution  drafted 
by  the  Saint  in  1640  for  the  Daughters  of  Charity  at  the 
hospital  of  Angers. 

Of  the  constitutions  drafted  by  St.  Vincent  for  the  lay 
confraternities,  the  author  was  enabled  to  study  a  fairly 
representative  number,  viz.,  five  for  the  confraternities  of 
the  towns  and  villages  (associations  of  women),  one  for  a 
confraternity  composed  of  both  men  and  women,  one  con¬ 
taining  regulations  for  the  men’s  division  of  a  similarly 
mixed  confraternity,  one  regulating  industrial  training  for 
poor  boys,  one  for  a  united  conference  of  charity  and  society 
of  the  Holy  Name,  one  for  the  Ladies  of  the  Parishes,  one 
for  the  Ladies  of  the  Royal  Court  and  three  for  the  Ladies 
of  the  Hotel-Dieu.  These  may  be  found  in  Lettres  et  Confer¬ 
ences  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paid  (Supplement) ,  pp.  383-433,  452- 
.454,  466-473,  475-6,  Father  Coste’s  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  et 
les  Dames  de  la  Char  it  e ,  pp.  97-106,  and  Lettres,  i.,  20. 

Of  the  many  current  biographies  of  Vincent  de  Paul 
there  are  but  three  that  can  lay  claim  to  originality  in  any 
marked  degree.  The  first  in  the  order  of  time  is  La  vie  du 
vcn.  serviteur  de  Dieu,  Vincent  de  Paul,  3  vols.,  Abelly, 
Paris,  1664.  It  has  passed  through  many  editions.  Refer¬ 
ence  in  the  following  pages  is  made  to  the  edition  of  1891 
(Paris).  From  an  historical  point  of  view  this  biography 
is  the  most  weighty.  It  appeared  four  years  after  St.  Vin¬ 
cent’s  death  under  the  name  of  Abelly,  Bishop  of  Rodez,  but 
in  reality  the  Saint’s  confreres  in  religion  were  more  truly 
its  authors.  The  authenticity  of  the  facts  therein  set  forth 
has  never  been  called  in  question. 

In  other  respects,  however,  the  work  does  not  merit  like 
praise.  No  attempt  seems  to  have  been  made  at  literary 
style  or  methodical  arrangement.  The  three  volumes  are 
to  a  great  extent  a  threefold  repetition,  each  fragmentary, 
of  the  same  history  without  presenting  one  complete  picture 
of  St.  Vincent. 


vi 


The  canonization  of  St.  Vincent  in  1737  gave  occasion 
to  M.  Collet,  a  priest  of  the  Mission,  to  undertake  the 
writing  of  a  new  biography.  After  ten  years’  preparation 
and  studying  of  the  sources,  he  published  his  work,  Vie  de 
Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  (2  vols.,  Nancy),  in  1748.  It  is  much 
more  concise,  better  arranged,  and  less  unctuous  than  is  the 
work  of  Abelly.  It  has  since  appeared  in  an  English  trans¬ 
lation  (Baltimore,  1845). 

The  third  biography  based  on  a  study  of  the  original 
documents  is  Abbe  Maynard’s  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul ,  sa  vie, 
son  temps,  ses  oeuvres,  son  influence,  in  four  volumes,  pub¬ 
lished  at  Paris  in  1860  and  revised  in  1874.  As  regards 
form,  Maynard  adopts  a  middle  course  between  the  work  of 
Abelly  and  that  of  Collet.  He  gives  a  detailed  and  method¬ 
ical  account  of  the  Saint’s  life  and  activities. 

All  the  other  biographies  of  the  Saint  are  based  on  these 
three  accounts,  though  some  of  them  have  incorporated  a 
few  more  recently  discovered  original  documents.  At  the 
present  time  Father  Coste  is  occupied  with  the  preparation 
of  a  new  biography  which  promises  to  contain  data  until  now 
unknown,  especially  concerning  the  early  years  of  St. 
Vincent. 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Joseph  Kerby  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  John 
O’Grady,  Professor  and  Associate  Professor,  respectively, 
of  Sociology  at  the  Catholic  University  of  America,  Wash¬ 
ington,  D.  C.,  under  whose  general  direction  this  work 
has  been  written.  He  wishes  to  express  his  gratitude  also 
to  the  Very  Rev.  Frederic  J.  Maune,  Provincial  Superior  of 
the  Eastern  Vincentian  Province,  without  whose  kind  per¬ 
mission  he  could  not  have  had  access  to  the  Vincentian 
literature  requisite  for  the  preparation  of  this  study.  To 
the  Vincentian  Fathers  of  St.  Vincent’s  Seminary,  German¬ 
town,  Philadelphia,  and  of  Niagara  University,  Niagara,  N. 
Y.,  he  likewise  returns  sincere  thanks  for  the  genuine  hos¬ 
pitality  tendered  him  during  his  visits  there  in  the  interest 
of  this  work.  Lastly,  special  gratitude  is  due  the  Rev.  F.  P. 
Drouet,  C.  M.,  of  Niagara  University,  and  to  the  Rev. 
Charles  L.  Souvay,  C.  M.,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  D.  S.  S.,  of  Kenrick 
Seminary,  Webster  Groves,  Mo.,  for  furnishing  and  procur¬ 
ing  valuable  material. 


VI 1 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Page 

INTRODUCTION  .  i 

Chapter  I.  France  at  the  Time  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  (1580-1660)  1 

1.  Political  France  .  1 

2.  Religious  France .  4 

3.  Financial  France  .  6 

4.  Social  France .  7 

Chapter  II.  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  .  13 

1.  Biographical  Sketch  .  13 

2.  Characteristics  . .  1 7 

SECTION  I.  The  General  Sociological  and  Politico-Economic  Ideas 

of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul .  49 

Chapter  I.  Conservatism  .  51 

Chapter  II.  The  Power  and  Duties  of  the  State .  59 

Chapter  III.  Poverty  . ' .  73 

Chapter  IV.  Charity  .  81 

SECTION  II.  The  Principles  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Social  Service  87 

Chapter  I.  The  Service  of  the  Poor .  89 

1.  The  Supernatural  in  Social  Service .  89 

2.  Free  Service  .  97 

3.  Personal  Service  .  100 

Chapter  II.  Organized  Charity .  103 

1.  Organization  in  Social  Service  .  104 

2.  Meetings  . “ .  hi 

3.  Cooperation  .  114 

Chapter  III.  Discrimination  in  Charity .  119 

1.  The  Needy .  1 19 

2.  Case  Investigation .  119 

3.  Case  Records .  124 

Chapter  IV.  Revenues  .  127 

1.  Private  Contributions  .  127 

2.  State  Aid  .  130 

3.  Publicity . /. .  131 

Chapter  V.  The  Personnel  .  137 

1.  The  Social  Worker .  137 

A.  The  Various  Classes  Engaged  in  Social  Service..  137 

B.  The  Trained  Social  Worker  .  139 

C.  Part-Time  and  Full-Time  Workers  .  144 

D.  The  Volunteer .  145 

2.  The  Nurse .  147 

A.  The  Nurse  and  the  Patient .  147 

B.  The  Nurse  and  the  Physician .  151 

ix 


X 


Page 

Chapter  VI.  Relief .  155 

1.  The  General  Nature  of  Relief .  155 

2.  The  Obligation  of  Earning  One’s  Livelihood .  157 

3.  Rehabilitation  .  159 

4.  Institutional  vs.  Home  Care .  161 

SECTION  III.  The  Methods  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Social  Service  163 

Chapter  I.  The  Care  of  the  Sick  and  the  Insane .  165 

1.  Visiting  Nursing  . : .  165 

A.  The  Confraternities  of  the  Towns  and  Villages.  . .  165 

B.  The  Ladies  of  the  Parishes .  169 

C.  The  Ladies  of  I’Hotel  Dieu .  172 

D.  The  Daughters  of  Charity .  179 

E.  The  Priests  of  the  Mission  and  the  Sick .  183 

2.  Hospital  Nursing .  185 

3.  The  Insane .  190 

A.  Saint-Lazare  and  the  Insane .  191 

B.  The  Daughters  of  Charity  and  the  Insane .  192 

Chapter  II.  Child  Welfare  Work  .  195 

1.  The  Foundlings  .  195 

2.  Schools  .  219 

3.  Industrial  Training  .  228 

Chapter  III.  Delinquents  .  235 

1.  Prison  Work .  235 

2.  Juvenile  Delinquents .  243 

3.  The  Magdalens . > .  247 

A.  Saint  Vincent  and  la  Madeleine .  249 

B.  St.  Vincent  and  the  Daughters  of  Providence .  251 

C.  Special  Protective  Work  .  252 

Chapter  IV.  The  Relief  of  Poverty  .  255 

1.  Men’s  Confraternities .  255 

2.  M.  de  Renti . : .  .  . .  258 

3.  The  Ladies  of  Charity . 260 

4.  Home  for  the  Aged  Poor . 266 

5.  L’Hopital  General  .  269 

6.  General  Relief  .  275 

A.  The  Relief  of  Lorraine .  275 

B.  The  Relief  of  Picardy  and  Champagne .  286 

C.  The  Relief  of  Poland .  301 

D.  The  Relief  of  Gennevilliers .  309 

E.  The  Relief  of  Paris  and  Environs  During  the 

Fronde  .  310 

F.  The  Relief  of  Magon .  322 

CONCLUSION  .  329 

BIBLIOGRAPHY .  33i 

ALPHABETICAL  INDEX .  333 


x 


THE  CHARITIES  OF 
ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUT 


INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  I 

France  at  the  Time  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  (1580-1660) 

The  conditions  of  France  during  the  first  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century  were  a  potent  factor  in  molding  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul's  life  of  love  and  self-sacrifice.  They  occa¬ 
sioned  his  extensive  and  varied  activities  by  being  respon¬ 
sible  for  the  miseries  he  strove  to  alleviate.  In  many  cases, 
too,  they  suggested  the  means  and  methods  of  relief  and 
dictated  the  policies  by  which  his  undertakings  were  gov¬ 
erned.  For  an  adequate  understanding  of  St.  Vincent's 
works,  therefore,  at  least  a  cursory  glance  at  the  history  of 
France  at  this  period  is  imperative1. 

1.  Political  France 

Politically  France  was  an  absolute  monarchy.2  The  king 
was  responsible  to  no  earthly  power  in  temporal  affairs. 

1  For  details  cf.,  v.g.,  Sully,  Memoires,  English  trans.,  Charlotte  Lennox, 
1756;  Richelieu,  Testament  Politique,  Amsterdam,  1688;  d’Avenel,  La 
fortune  privee  a  trovers  sept  siccles,  Paris,  1895;  Idem,  Paysans  et  ouvriers 
depuis  sept  cents  ans,  Paris,  1899;  Martin  Saint-Leon,  Histoire  de  corpora¬ 
tions  de  metiers  depuis  Icurs  origines  jusqu’  d  leur  suppression  en  1791, 
Paris,  1897;  Levasseur,  Histoire  des  classes  ouvricres  et  de  V indust rie  en 
France  avant  1789,  vol.  ii.,  Paris,  1901  ;  Feillet,  La  misere  an  temps  de  la 
Fronde  et  de  S.  I'incent  de  Paul,  Paris,  1862;  Lallemand,  Histoire  de  la 
charite,  vol.  i\\,  Paris,  1910.  1912;  Weiss,  Weltgeschichte,  vols.  viii.,  ix.,  Graz 
u.  Leipzig,  1895,  1898;  Ranke,  Fransoesisclie  Geschichte,  vorn.  im  sechszehn- 
ten  u.  siebenselmten  Jahrhundert,  6  vols.,  gte  Auflage,  Leipzig,  1876;  Adams, 
The  Gron'th  of  the  French  Nation,  N.  Y.,  1908;  Johnson,  Europe  in  the 
Sixteenth  Century,  1494-1598 ,  5th  ed.,  London,  1909;  Lodge,  Richelieu,  N.  Y., 
1896;  Schwill,  A  Political  History  of  Modern  Europe  from  the  Reformation 
to  the  Present  Day,  X.  Y.,  1908;  Wakeman,  Ascendency  of  France,  1598- 
1715,  N.  Y.f  1915.  ’ 

2  Henry  III,  1574-1589;  Henry  IV,  1589-1610  (Due  de  Sully,  Prime  Min¬ 
ister)  ;  Louis  XIII,  1610-1643  (Marie  de  Medici,  Regent  during  his  minority; 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  Prime  Minister,  1624-1642)  ;  Louis  XIV,  1643-1715 
(Anne  of  Austria,  Regent  during  his  minority;  Cardinal  Mazarin,  Prime 
Minister,  1643-1661). 


1 


THE  CHARITIES 


9 

(mJ 

The  supreme  legislative,  judiciary,  and  administrative  func¬ 
tions  of  government  centered  in  him.  The  Parliament  of 
Paris  was  never  legally  a  legislative  or  administrative  body 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  despite  its  occasional  preten¬ 
sions  to  the  contrary.  It  was  merely  the  supreme  court  of 
justice  in  the  realm  and  the  guardian  of  its  fundamental 
laws.  The  General  Estates,  composed  of  representatives  of 
the  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  people,  and  convoked  at  irreg¬ 
ular  intervals  at  the  pleasure  of  the  king,  were  the  official 
organ  of  public  opinion  and  of  the  social  conscience.  The 
king  took  their  views  into  consideration  when  framing  a 
law.  He  also  consulted  the  members  of  his  cabinet.  But 
neither  of  these  bodies  had  a  deciding  vote. 

The  General  Estates,  assembled  at  Paris  in  1614,  resolved 
as  a  fundamental  law  of  the  realm,  that  the  king  held  his 
power  from  God  alone,  and,  hence,  no  earthly  power,  lay 
or  ecclesiastic,  enjoyed  the  right  of  absolving  his  subjects 
from  their  oath  of  allegiance.  The  clergy  and  the  officials 
of  the  state,  before  entering  upon  their  respective  offices, 
were  to  swear  adherence  to  this  principle.  Any  subject 
opposing  it  was  to  be  declared  guilty  of  high  treason.3  The 
Parliament  confirmed  this  view  by  declaring  that  it  merely 
expressed  a  principle  inherently  connected  with  the  idea  of 
the  royal  power  of  France. 

Richelieu  during  his  ministry  was  primarily  bent  upon 
strengthening  the  monarchy  and  raising  France  to  a  com¬ 
manding  position  among  the  nations  of  Europe.  To  these 
ends  all  else  was  subservient.  The  individual  was  prac¬ 
tically  absorbed  by  the  egotistic  state.  The  state  tended  to 
consider  him  of  value  only  in  so  far  as  he  was  a  political 
asset  and  was  inclined  to  go  to  almost  any  length  in  its 
demands  upon  his  life,  services,  and  resources. 

Coexistent  with  the  lofty  conception  of  the  origin,  dig¬ 
nity,  and  unrestricted  supremacy  of  the  royal  power,  we 
find  in  practice  almost  universal  disrespect  for  law,  order, 
and  authority,  born  of  personal  ambitions,  political  in¬ 
trigues,  rebellions,  and  civil  strifes.  The  religious  wars,  or 

3  This  forceful  expression  of  public  opinion  was  the  reaction  against  the 
recognized  right  of  the  Popes  during  the  Middle  Ages  to  absolve  from 
their  oath  of  allegiance  the  subjects  of  unworthy  rulers. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


3 


rather  political  civil  wars,  waged  under  the  garb  and  guise 
of  religion,  had  devastated  France  almost  uninterruptedly 
throughout  the  last  four  decades  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  king,  the  Catholic  League,  and  the  Huguenots,  each  had 
armies  recruited  on  French  soil  and  reenforced  with  foreign 
mercenaries.  The  wars  were  waged  with  the  fury  and 
cruelty  of  religious  fanaticism.  Churches,  monasteries,  and 
schools  were  pillaged  and  burned,  or  turned  into  barracks 
and  fortresses.  Opposed  by  the  great  and  influential  nobles, 
by  the  clergy,  the  Pope,  the  estates,  and  the  cities,  Henry  of 
Navarre,  later  Henry  IV,  fought  his  way  to  the  throne  dur¬ 
ing  the  last  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century;  he  was  forced 
to  reconquer  practically  the  whole  of  France.  Every  am¬ 
bitious  pretender  to  the  royal  power,  every  discontented 
noble,  was  assured  of  a  following  to  force  his  claims  or 
avenge  his  grievances  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 

Individuals  appointed  to  royal  offices  felt  themselves 
independent  and  abused  their  power  for  the  furtherance 
of  selfish  interests  and  ambitions.  The  great  nobles  sought 
to  transform  the  provinces  they  governed  into  independent 
states.  They  claimed  the  right  to  settle  their  disputes  by 
what  had  once  been  their  recognized  prerogative — private 
wars.  Whenever  they  had  occasion  to  quarrel  with  the 
royal  court,  they  retreated  to  their  provinces,  which  served 
either  as  a  secure  asylum  or  as  a  base  of  attack. 

Henry  IV  curtailed  their  power  by  appointing  lieuten¬ 
ants  general  to  act  as  direct  agents  of  the  crown  and  by 
entrusting  the  government  of  the  chief  provincial  towns  to 
persons  independent  of  the  nobles.  When  Richelieu  entered 
the  ministry  in  1624,  he  found  the  large  provinces  divided 
among  nineteen  governors,  all  belonging  to  the  highest  rank 
of  the  nobility.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  eighteen  years 
later,  but  four  of  these  had  retained  their  positions.  The 
others  had  been  supplanted  by  officials  chosen  from  the  mid¬ 
dle  class  of  society,  called  intendants ,  who  had  neither  the 
means  nor  the  desire  to  resist  the  crown.  The  nobles  re¬ 
tained  their  social  dignity  and  their  revenues  but  no  sub¬ 
stantial  authority. 

There  were,  too,  many  and  flagrant  abuses  in  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  justice.  The  king,  or  his  prime  minister,  ar- 


4 


THE  CHARITIES 


rested  persons  at  will,  generally  political  offenders  of  social 
prominence,  and  detained  them  in  prison  or  condemned  them 
to  death  without  trial  or  conviction.  Richelieu  contends  in 
his  Testament  Politique  that  in  offences  against  the  state 
one  must  act  on  subjective  conviction  of  guilt,  for  such 
offences  are  usually  planned  in  secrecy  and  must  be  prema¬ 
turely  frustrated.  It  might  prove  disastrous  to  the  state  if 
one  were  to  await  full  proof. 

In  the  provinces,  especially  during  the  early  years  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  weak  were  afforded  no  protec¬ 
tion  against  the  strong.  Crime  went  unpunished.  The 
nobles  gave  themselves  with  impunity  to  violence  and  rapine. 
The  soldiers  and  robber  bands  devastated  entire  districts 
undisturbed  by  the  civil  power.  The  officers  of  justice  either 
were  without  sufficient  authority  or  lent  their  aid  to  the 
frustration  of  justice.  It  became  a  matter  of  self-preserva¬ 
tion  to  take  justice  into  one’s  own  hands.  Private  revenge 
and  retaliation  were  of  daily  occurrence. 

2.  Religious  France 

The  relations  of  the  French  nation  with  the  universal 
Church  were  weak  and  strained.  A  strong  national  spirit 
had  entered  into  ecclesiastical  affairs.  In  her  foreign  and 
domestic  policies  France  was  no  longer  guided  by  the  in¬ 
terests  of  Catholicism  at  large  but  sought  exclusively  the 
good  of  the  nation.  The  Gallican  Liberties  had  already 
taken  deep  root  in  the  minds  of  the  French  clergy  and  mani¬ 
fested  themselves  in  the  policies  of  the  civil  authorities. 
The  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges  (1438)  had  been  con¬ 
demned  by  the  5th  Lateran  Council  (1512-1517)  and  was  re¬ 
jected  in  the  Concordat  of  the  Holy  See  with  Francis  I 
(1516).  But  the  ideas  therein  contained  lived  on.  The 
parliaments,  the  jurists,  the  magistrates,  adhered  to  them; 
the  rise  of  Protestantism  in  France  strengthened  them ;  the 
scholars  further  developed  them.  They  began,  in  con¬ 
sequence,  to  be  looked  upon,  not  as  privileges  granted  by  the 
Pope  to  the  French  nation,  but  as  the  rights  of  the  primitive 
Church,  which  the  Church  of  France  had  conserved  more 
intact  throughout  the  centuries  than  had  the  other  nations. 

In  1274  the  king  was  granted  the  privilege  of  receiving 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


5 


the  revenues  of  certain  bishoprics  during  their  vacancies. 
It  was  now  no  longer  considered  a  privilege,  but  demanded 
as  a  royal  prerogative  and  extended  by  abuse  to  practically 
all  the  bishoprics  of  the  realm.  It  was,  therefore,  to  the 
financial  interest  of  the  king  to  be  slow  in  filling  episcopal 
vacancies.  A  further  manifestation  of  the  Gallican  Liber¬ 
ties  at  this  period  which  wrought  much  harm,  was  the  re¬ 
fusal  of  the  government  to  accept  and  promulgate  the  reform 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 

The  Church  of  France,  we  might  say,  had  become  in  the 
eyes  of  the  king  a  royal  institution,  and  its  offices  and  dig¬ 
nities  available  as  pensions  and  rewards  for  his  favorite 
friends.  Moreover,  many  of  the  noble  families  placed  their 
younger  sons  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy  and  claimed  for 
them,  even  from  their  youth,  and  independently  of  their 
moral  and  intellectual  fitness,  the  hereditary  right  to  these 
responsible  positions  in  the  Church. 

The  people,  too,  had  become  infected  by  the  irreligious 
atmosphere  of  the  age.  It  is  true,  the  great  mass  of  the 
French  nation  had  remained  Catholic  at  heart.  Their  weak¬ 
ened  faith,  religious  indifference,  and  laxity  of  morals,  were 
not  so  much  the  result  of  false  philosophic  thought,  though 
Protestantism  had  left  its  unmistakable  impress,  as  the 
almost  inevitable  outcome  of  the  prevailing  social  and 
ecclesiastical  conditions. . 

The  worldliness,  the  ambitions,  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
hierarchy  could  not  but  react  upon  the  flocks  entrusted  to 
their  charge.  Meagrely  instructed  by  their  pastors,  or  en¬ 
tirely  neglected  or  forsaken  by  them,  the  people  remained 
grossly  ignorant  of  some  of  the  most  essential  doctrines  of 
their  religion  and  of  the  duties  of  the  Christian  life.  Their 
moral  sense  had  been  blunted  by  religious  animosities,  wars, 
and  the  general  lawlessness  of  the  times.  Sully,  the  Hugue¬ 
not  minister  of  Henry  IV,  when  speaking  of  the  events  of 
1594,  characterizes  the  age  as  one  that  had  ‘dost  all  distinc¬ 
tion  between  virtue  and  vice.”4 

Duelling  is  worthy  of  special  note.  It  was  in  vogue  as 
perhaps  but  seldom  before.  The  protests  of  the  Church 


4  Memoires,  i.,  334. 


6 


THE  CHARITIES 


compelled  the  king  to  intervene.  In  1602  a  law  was  passed 
declaring  duelling  and  assistance  thereat  high  treason.  But 
its  very  severity  hampered  its  enforcement.  Two  thousand 
of  the  nobility  met  their  death  in  these  combats  between  the 
years  1601  and  1609.  In  this  latter  year  the  rigor  of  the 
law  was  mitigated.  Richelieu,  too,  was  forced  to  adopt 
stringent  measures  against  this  vice.5 

»  * 

3.  Financial  France 

France  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  throughout  the 
period  of  St.  Vincent’s  activity,  with  the  sole  exception 
of  the  latter  years  of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  This  con¬ 
dition  must  be  attributed  to  the  expenses  of  the  civil  and 
foreign  wars,  the  luxurious  expenditures  of  the  royal  court 
for  its  own  pleasures  and  for  the  silencing  of  disgruntled 
nobles,  the  notorious  abuses  in  the  financial  system,  and  the 
depreciation  of  money  brought  about  by  the  influx  into 
Europe  of  precious  metals  from  the  newly  discovered 
Americas. 

Little  wonder,  then,  that  the  royal  taxes  were  numerous 
and  exorbitant.  They  were,  moreover,  unevenly  divided. 
Scarcely  any  of  them  fell  on  all  parts  of  the  realm.  To  this 
territorial  inequality  was  added  the  inequality  arising  from 
personal  privileges.  Ecclesiastics,  nobles,  and  many  of  the 
crown  officials,  were  exempt  from  the  heaviest  imposts. 
The  principal  weight  of  the  taxes  rested,  therefore,  on  the 
lower  classes,  and  more  particularly  on  the  peasantry. 

The  taxes,  too,  were  collected  with  great  fraud  and  op¬ 
pression.  Every  branch  of  indirect  taxation  was  farmed 
out.  This  gave  rise  to  a  greedy  host  of  agents,  inspectors, 
and  taxgatherers,  who  were  bent  on  enriching  themselves  at 
the  expense  of  the  taxpayers.  The  enormous  expenses,  for 
example,  incurred  during  the  Thirty  Years’  War  compelled 
the  government  to  resort  to  the  most  extravagant  expedients 
for  the  procuring  of  funds.  Large  foreign  loans  were  made. 
In  many  cases,  too,  the  bankers  furnished  the  money  and 
were  to  reimburse  themselves  from  the  taxes,  the  collection 
of  which  was  placed  in  their  hands.  This  they  did  through 


5  Weiss,  viii.,  563;  Idem,  ix.,  239. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


7 


their  agents,  who  performed  their  task  with  great  severity 
and  fabulous  gain.  It  is  estimated  that  only  about  one  fifth 
of  the  amount  collected  ever  reached  the  royal  treasury. 

Throughout  this  entire  period,  protests  against  excessive 
taxation  form  the  refrain  to  all  the  complaints  of  the  lower 
classes,  only  to  fall  on  unheeding  ears  or  to  be  answered 
with  broken  promises.  Never  was  more  than  temporary 
mitigation  of  the  burden  given.  In  some  places  the  people 
tried  to  evade  the  collectors  by  flight;  in  others,  they  met 
the  armed  violence  of  the  taxgatherers  with  armed  resist¬ 
ance.  The  year  1637  witnessed  the  rebellion  of  the  Croquants 
(Poor  Wretches)  in  Perigord  and  Saintonge,  and  of  the 
Nupieds  (Barefooted)  in  Normandy.  We  find  the  same 
open  opposition,  or  perhaps  more  correctly,  the  same  mani¬ 
festation  of  the  inability  to  meet  the  excessive  demands  of 
the  state,  among  the  inhabitants  of  Guienne,  Cdermont, 
Brioudes,  Aurillac,  Bordeaux,  and,  towards  the  middle  of  the 
century,  practically  throughout  all  France. 

4.  Social  France 

The  population  of  France  had  been  steadily  on  the  in¬ 
crease  since  the  Black  Death  (1348-1349,  1361-1362,  1369) 
and  the  Hundred  Years’  War  (1337-1453).  This  increase  is 
noticeable  especially  in  the  cities  and  more  particularly  in 
Paris.  In  1448  the  king  complained  of  the  solitude  of  the 
capital.  A  century  later,  the  increase  caused  the  State  much 
concern.  The  king  forbade  the  construction  of  new  houses 
in  the  suburbs.  Henry  III  (1574-1589)  was  the  first  king 
to  make  Paris  his  permanent  abode.  This  attracted  many 
to  the  capital.  Many  also  sought  refuge  there  during  the 
horrors  of  the  civil  wars.  The  population  is  estimated  as 
high  as  550,000  at  this  time.  Louis  XIII,  in  different  edicts, 
renewed  the  prohibition  to  build  in  and  around  Paris.  He 
gave  as  his  reasons  that  the  over-population  would  render 
the  necessary  cleanliness  impossible,  new  dwellings  would 
attract  undesirable  persons  to  Paris,  and  building  in  the 
suburbs  would  destroy  agriculture  there. 

Though  feudalism  lost  its  political  significance  with  the 
firm  establishment  of  the  monarchy,  still  it  continued  to 


8 


THE  CHARITIES 


wield  a  double  influence  socially.  In  the  first  place,  serfdom, 
though  in  a  mitigated  and  less  burdensome  form,  remained 
in  vogue  in  a  number  of  the  provinces  until  the  French 
Revolution.  Moreover,  the  social  classes,  as  molded  under 
feudalism,  continued  to  exist  along  their  broad  lines :  the 
clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  third  estate.  The  latter  we  may 
subdivide  into  the  rich  bourgeois  (merchants,  landowners, 
and  officeholders),  the  artisans,  and  the  peasants.  Some 
writers  have  even  ventured  to  add  the  further  classes  of 
vagabonds  and  beggars,  thieves,  and  prostitutes. 

The  clergy  recruited  their  ranks  from  the  other  two 
classes.  The  higher  ecclesiastical  positions,  however,  were 
in  the  main  reserved  to  the  sons  of  nobles,  while  the  more 
obscure  and  less  desirable  offices  in  city  and  country  were 
generally  assigned  to  ecclesiastics  of  plebeian  extraction. 

Nobility  was  determined  in  the  first  place  by  birth  (the 
Nobility  of  the  Sword).  It  could  also  be  conferred  by  the 
king’s  patent,  though  the  recipient  was  not  considered  quite 
on  a  level  with  the  old  nobility  of  many  generations.  There 
was  another  class  of  nobles  distinctive  of  France,  not  con¬ 
sidered  equal  in  rank  to  the  Nobles  of  the  Sword,  and  form¬ 
ing  a  class  between  the  bourgeois  and  the  higher  nobility. 
These  were  the  Nobles  of  the  Robe,  the  official  class  of 
certain  ranks,  ennobled  by  their  office.  The  growth  of  such 
a  class  had  been  made  easy  by  the  sale  of  offices.  Many 
acquired  their  titles  in  this  latter  way  during  the  civil  wars 
and  during  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Many, 
too,  had  usurped  the  privileges  of  nobility. 

The  way  was,  therefore,  open  for  the  lowest  citizen  to 
take  his  place  among  the  privileged  classes.  It  was  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  winning  out  in  the  competitive  struggle.  The  poor „ 
man,  the  rich  bourgeois ,  the  noble,  were  the  three  stages 
of  the  struggle.  Material  wealth  was  the  determining  factor. 
In  times  of  peace,  however,  the  central  government  endeav¬ 
ored  to  check  this  process  and  to  abrogate  all  doubtful  titles 
of  nobility. 

During  the  ministries  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  the 
state  offices  of  finance,  police  and  justice  came  to  be  almost 
exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  rich  bourgeois,  the  merchant 
burghers.  This  was  principally  due  to  the  fact  that  they 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


9 


were  better  able  to  buy  them,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
state  was  glad  to  employ  them  as  a  wedge  between  the  throne 
and  the  high  nobility. 

We  may  divide  the  social  groups  of  France  from  another 
point  of  view  into  two  large  classes:  those  who  were  an 
economic  burden  and  drain  on  the  resources  of  the  nation, 
and  those  who  by  personal  effort  or  financial  support  con¬ 
tributed  to  the  general  well-being  and  prosperity  of  the 
country.  To  the  latter  belonged  the  peasants,  artisans,  mer¬ 
chant  burghers  and  officeholders ;  to  the  former,  those  whom 
we  find  at  the  two  extremes  of  the  social  scale :  the  beggars, 
thieves,  and  vagabonds  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  high  nobility 
on  the  other.  These  nobles,  as  a  class,  have  been  character¬ 
ized  as  being  at  this  period  the  most  dangerous  and  useless 
portion  of  France’s  population.  Their  spirit  of  insubordi¬ 
nation  and  their  pretentions  to  lawless  independence  were 
alike  inconsistent  with  the  efficiency  of  the  centralized  gov¬ 
ernment  and  detrimental  to  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

We  may  view  the  population  of  France  at  this  period 
from  still  another  angle  and  divide  it  into  two  furtheivlarge 
classes :  the  rich  and  the  poor.  We  find  enormous  wealth 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  while  the  many  pass 
through  all  the  stages  from  moderate  ease  and  comfort  to 
extreme  poverty  and  misery,  with  a  preponderance  towards 
the  latter.  Large  numbers,  whole  districts,  stood  in  need 
of  relief. 

Competition  was  ever  the  all-determining  factor.  The 
meager  intervention  of  the  state  in  industry  and  commerce 
did  not  substantially  affect  the  situation.  Unequals  in  nat¬ 
ural  gifts  and  in  opportunity  were  compelled  to  compete  for 
a  livelihood.  The  struggle  was  inspired  by  frank  selfishness 
and  was  carried  on  relentlessly. 

Nor  was  this  competition  a  respecter  of  persons.  As 
the  lowly  could  ascend  to  the  heights  of  success,  so,  too,  the 
mighty  fell.  All  authors  speak  of  the  impoverished  nobility 
at  this  period.  The  tax  which  the  noble  had  formerly  col¬ 
lected  from  his  lands  had  for  some  time  past  gone  to  the 
royal  treasury,  leaving  him  the  meager  rent  as  his  only  land 
income.  This,  too,  had  fallen  in  value  in  consequence  of 
the  monetary  revolution.  In  the  meantime  a  class  of  the 


10 


THE  CHARITIES 


bourgeois  had  enriched  themselves  by  commerce  and  trade 
and  outclassed  him. 

The  poverty  prevalent  in  France  at  this  time  was,  there¬ 
fore,  no  longer  the  plight  of  the  individual.  It  was  the  plight 
of  society.  Much  of  it  was  the  result  of  violated  Christian 
justice  and  charity.  The  Church  in  her  councils  continued 
to  encourage  charity.  But  immorality,  freedom  of  thought, 
weakening  of  faith  and  religious  animosities,  contributed  to 
the  decadence  of  charitable  institutions.  The  religious  wars 
had  destroyed  many  hospitals.  The  adverse  conditions  mul¬ 
tiplied  the  poor  in  greater  numbers  and  more  rapidly  than 
the  existing  institutions  could  have  provided  for  even  in 
their  most  flourishing  state.  Contrary  to  the  prescriptions 
of  the  Council  of  Vienne,  a  number  of  hospitals  were  still 
given  as  benefices.  The  revenues  of  monasteries,  abbeys, 
and  priories,  a  part  of  which  was  intended  for  the  poor,  went 
into  private  and  undeserving  hands. 

At  the  same  time,  and  in  a  much  higher  degree,  the  pov¬ 
erty  can  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  state.  Far  from  bol¬ 
stering  up  its  members  at  their  weakest  points  by  prudent 
legislation,  restricting  industrial  competition  for  the  benefit 
of  all  and  regulating  the  accumulation  of  property;  far  from 
fostering  mutually  helpful  relations,  declaring  and  perpet¬ 
uating  ideals  in  which  the  sanctities  of  life  are  recognized, 
it  was  itself  directly  or  indirectly  the  cause  of  much  of  the 
prevailing  poverty.  Its  civil  and  foreign  wars,  frequently 
unjust  and  unnecessary,  greatly  crippled  agriculture  and 
commerce.  These  same  wars  and  the  shameful  extravagance 
of  the  court  exhausted  the  royal  treasury  and  made  exorbi¬ 
tant  taxes  inevitable.  We  detect  a  flagrant  violation  of 
social  justice  also  in  the  unequal  distribution  of  the  latter. 
The  state  failed  to  protect  the  people  against  the  devasta¬ 
tions  of  the  marauding  soldiery,  whose  pay  frequently  con¬ 
sisted,  in  part  at  least,  in  the  booty  they  could  gather  at 
the  point  of  the  sword  from  the  peasants  of  the  neighboring 
territory  or  from  the  inhabitants  of  a  captured  town.  It 
failed  to  protect  them  against  the  raids  of  the  “robber- 
knights,”  against  the  impositions  and  injustices  of  its  petty 
officers,  financial  and  judiciary.  It  itself  acted  high¬ 
handedly  in  the  administration  of  justice. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


11 


The  state  endeavored  to  rid  the  realm  of  beggars  by 
prohibiting  mendicancy  under  the  severest  penalties,  but  it 
failed  to  take  adequate  measures  to  prevent  it.  The 
very  frequency  with  which  these  prohibitions  were  en¬ 
acted  and  rendered  more  severe  is  evident  proof  of  their 
ineffectiveness. 

The  poor,  we  might  say  in  general,  made  but  little  effort 
to  help  themselves.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  vast  numbers 
of  able-bodied  men  and  women  among  the  beggars  and  vaga¬ 
bonds.  Perhaps  they  saw  the  futility  of  effort.  Perhaps, 
too,  they  considered  begging  the  easier,  the  more  secure, 
and  the  more  lucrative  profession.  We  need  hardly  be  sur¬ 
prised  that,  for  example,  the  peasant  refrained  from  special 
effort  to  better  his  condition  when  he  had  but  little  assur¬ 
ance  in  many  cases  that  he,  and  not  a  marauder,  would  reap 
the  fruits  of  his  labors. 

There  was  no  organized  effort  to  cope  with  the  situation 
systematically.  Relief  was  given  individually  and  through 
the  existing  institutions  but  both,  under  the  circumstances, 
were  inadequate  to  the  task.  Owing  to  the  vast  numbers 
of  the  poor,  the  failure  of  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  to 
offer  adequate  relief,  and  the  new  ideas  brought  in  by  the 
Reformation,  the  tendency  was  growing  to  secularize  char¬ 
ity,  i.  e.,  to  place  a  charitable  institution  entirely,  or  at  least 
its  temporal  administration,  into  the  hands  of  a  responsible 
lay  committee. 

There  were  always  zealous,  self-sacrificing  ecclesiastics 
and  laymen  who  beheld  with  genuine  sorrow  the  sad  condi¬ 
tion  of  the  Church  and  of  the  poor.  They  exerted  their 
every  effort  to  effect  a  change,  but  their  endeavors  proved, 
if  not  entirely,  at  least  for  the  most  part,  futile.  They  were 
greatly  hampered  by  the  refusal  of  the  king  to  permit  the 
promulgation  of  the  reform  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  restoration  of  comparative  peace  and  quiet  at  the  end 
of  the  religious  wars  was  followed  by  a  more  general  and 
notable  religious  revival.  It  was  not,  however,  even  then 
the  concerted  effort  of  the  Church  of  France,  but  remained 
the  work  of  a  few  zealous,  devoted  individuals. 

The  keynote  was  struck  by  St.  Francis  of  Sales  (1567- 
1622) ,  but  the  most  active  and  influential  was  without  doubt 


12 


THE  CHARITIES 


St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  Intimately  associated  with  him  we 
find  such  illustrious  and  saintly  men  as  Cardinal  Pierre  de 
Berulle  (1575-1629),  founder  of  the  French  Congregation 
of  the  Oratory;  Adrien  Bourdoise  (1584-1655),  founder  of 
the  seminary  and  of  the  Community  of  Priests  of  Saint- 
Nicolas-du-Chardonnet ;  the  Venerable  Jean  Eudes  (1601- 
80),  missionary  and  founder  of  the  Congregation  of  Our 
Lady  of  Charity;  and  Jean  Jacques  Olier  (1608-57),  founder 
of  the  seminary  and  the  Society  of  Saint-Sulpice.  Riche¬ 
lieu,  too,  seconded  his  efforts  when  his  political  interests 
permitted  it,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  reform  of 
monasteries. 

But  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  aspect  of  the  move¬ 
ment  was  the  immense  energy  and  enthusiasm  that  were 
thrown  into  the  field  of  active  charity.  The  Catholic  Church, 
always  conscious  of  her  obligations  toward  the  poor  and 
suffering,  has  seldom  undertaken  the  task  of  charitable 
relief  with  greater  zeal,  devotion,  and  sacrifice  than  during 
the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Under  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  or  inspired  by  his  brilliant 
example,  or  independently  of  his  personal  efforts,  there 
sprang  up  a  series  of  pious  congregations,  a  system  of  relief 
organizations,  well  fitted  to  meet  the  demands  of  charity 
in  all  its  varied  aspects. 


CHAPTER  II 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
1.  Biographical  Sketch 

The  little  village  of  Pouy,  officially  called  Saint-Vincent- 
de-Paul  in  honor  of  the  Saint  since  1828,  in  the  province 
of  Gascony,  France,  was  the  birth-place  of  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul.  Until  late  years,  1576  was  accepted  without  question 
as  the  year  of  his  birth.  Recent  study,  however,  has  estab¬ 
lished  the  year  1580  as  the  more  probable.1 

History  has  recorded  very  little  concerning  his  parents 
apart  from  the  fact  that  they  were  poor,  simple,  God-fearing 
peasants.2  Vincent  was  the  third  of  six  children,  four  boys 
and  two  girls,  and,  like  his  brothers  and  sisters,  passed  his 
early  years  in  the  fields.  He  was  employed  particularly  in 
guarding  his  father’s  flocks. 

St.  Vincent’s  father  was  not  entirely  disinterested  in 
allowing  the  young  boy  to  prepare  for  the  priesthood.  He 
was  acquainted  with  a  certain  prior  of  the  neighborhood, 
the  son  of  a  family  no  better  placed  than  his,  who  contributed 
much  to  the  advancement  of  his  brothers  through  the  reve¬ 
nues  of  his  benefice.  He  hoped  that  Vincent  would  one  day 
do  the  same.  But  in  this  he  was  disappointed,  for  in  later 
years  St.  Vincent  was  ever  steadfast  in  his  refusal  to  employ 
his  position,  or  divert  any  of  the  funds  that  passed  through 
his  hands,  for  the  temporal  promotion  or  relief  of  his 
relatives. 

After  spending  four  years  with  the  Franciscans  at  Dax 
in  the  study  of  humanities,  Vincent  entered  the  service  of 
M.  de  Commet,  advocate  of  this  city  and  judge  of  the  dis¬ 
trict  of  Pouy,  as  private  tutor  while  continuing  his  own 
studies.  His  theological  studies,  interrupted  by  a  .short 


1  Coste,  A  quelle  dote  saint  Vincent  de  Paul  est-il  ne?  in  Revue  de  Gas¬ 
cogne.  1911. 

2  The  particle  de  in  the  family  name  is  no  indication  of  nobility  as  far 
as  is  known.  Cf.  Lettres  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul,  i.,  Paris,  1880,  p.  11,  n.  2. 

13 


14 


THE  CHARITIES 


stay  at  Saragossa,  were  made  at  Toulouse.  Ordained  to  the 
priesthood  in  1600,  he  was  appointed  to  the  pastorate  of 
Tihl  in  his  native  diocese.  He  never  took  possession  of  this 
charge,  but  yielded  his  rights  in  favor  of  a  competitor  rather 
than  have  the  dispute  brought  before  the  ecclesiastical  courts. 
This  left  him  free  to  continue  his  studies.  He  received  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  in  Sacred  Theology  from  the  University 
of  Toulouse,  which  entitled  him  to  a  chair  in  the  university 
with  faculties  to  explain  and  teach  the  Second  Book  of 
Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard.  (See  pp.  26-7.) 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1605  he  made  a  trip  to 
Bordeaux,  the  purpose  of  which  has  never  been  revealed. 
But  it  probably  concerned  some  ecclesiastical  promotion  that 
was  offered  him.  He  characterized  it  two  years  later  as 
an  affair  which  required  great  expense  and  which  his  temer¬ 
ity  did  not  permit  him  to  mention.3 

He  found  upon  his  return  to  Toulouse  that  he  had  become 
heir  to  some  landed  property  and  furniture  through  the 
generosity  of  an  old  lady  who  had  held  him  in  high  esteem. 
A  debtor,  who  owed  three  to  four  hundred  crowns  to  this 
estate,  had  fled  to  Marseilles  to  evade  prosecution.  Vincent, 
advised  by  his  friends  and  in  need  of  money  to  defray  the 
expenses  contracted  at  Bordeaux,  determined  to  follow  him. 

He  recovered  three  hundred  crowns  from  his  debtor  and 
prepared  to  return  by  land  to  Toulouse.  He  was  persuaded, 
however,  to  accompany  a  friend  by  sea  as  far  as  Narbonne. 
Their  ship  was  overpowered  by  Turkish  pirates,  following 
a  fray  in  which  St.  Vincent  was  injured,  and  taken  to  Tunis, 
where  the  passengers  were  sold  into  slavery  at  public  auc¬ 
tion.  Vincent  was  forced  into  the  service  of  a  fisherman, 
but  being  unable  to  accustom  himself  to  life  at  sea,  he  was 
soon  sold  to  an  aged  alchemist.  He  was  now  compelled  to 
heat  ten  or  twelve  furnaces,  but  his  new  master  was  kind 
and  humane  and  conceived  a  great  liking  for  him,  initiating 
him  into  the  secrets  of  his  trade  and  imparting  to  him  some 
knowledge  of  medicine.  St.  Vincent  expressly  states  that 
he  learned  from  him  a  cure  for  gallstones.4 


3  Lett.,  i.  4,  No.  i,  To  M.  de  Commet,  July  24,  1607. 

4  Ibid.,  6. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


15 


After  a  year  the  old  alchemist  died  and  left  St.  Vincent  to 
his  nephew,  who,  in  turn,  sold  him  to  a  renegade  Christian. 
This  latter  proved  a  cruel  master  and  sent  Vincent  to  work 
on  his  lands  in  the  barren  mountains,  where  the  heat  was 
all  but  unbearable.  After  almost  another  year’s  servitude 
Vincent  converted  the  renegade  and  escaped  with  him  to 
France  in  1607. 

On  returning  to  France,  he  went  to  the  papal  vice  legate 
at  Avignon,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Rome.  Here  he  con¬ 
tinued  his  studies.  He  was  sent  back  to  France  in  1609  on 
a  secret  mission  to  Henry  IV,  the  import  of  which  has  ever 
been  a  matter  of  conjecture.  He  fulfilled  his  mission  faith¬ 
fully  and  retired  immediately  into  seclusion.  He  obtained 
lodging  in  the  suburb  of  Saint-Germain.  While  here  he 
assisted  in  the  nursing  of  the  sick  in  the  newly  established 
Hospital  of  Charity,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of 
the  officials  of  Queen  Marguerite  of  Valois.  At  their  rec¬ 
ommendation,  he  was  appointed  almoner  to  the  queen. 
About  the  same  time  he  was  appointed  by  the  king  to  the 
little  abbacy  of  Saint-Leonard-de-Chaume.  But  so  far  as 
is  known  he  never  took  personal  possession  of  this  latter 
charge. 

Desiring,  on  the  contrary,  to  lead  a  life  apart  from  the 
world,  he  took  up  his  abode  with  the  Oratorians,  a  society  of 
secular  priests  recently  organized  in  France  by  the  saintly 
de  Berulle.  After  a  two  years’  sojourn  here,  de  Berulle, 
whom  St.  Vincent  had  learned  to  love  and  revere  as  a  father, 
obtained  his  appointment  as  pastor  of  Clichy,  then  an  insig¬ 
nificant  parish  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris. 

This  charge  was  more  in  conformity  with  his  wishes. 
He  devoted  himself  whole-heartedly  to  the  welfare  of  his 
flock.  His  stay,  however,  was  of  short  duration.  Again  at 
the  solicitation  of  Pere  de  Berulle,  he  entered  the  service 
of  Emmanuel  de  Gondi,  Count  of  Joigny  and  General  of  the 
Galley  Slaves,  as  private  tutor  to  his  children.  He  became 
at  the  same  time  the  spiritual  director  of  Mme.  de  Gondi. 
With  her  assistance  he  began  to  give  missions  on  her  estates. 
But,  in  order  to  escape  the  honor  and  esteem  that  accrued 
to  him  from  his  successes,  as  also  because  he  considered 
Mme.  de  Gondi’s  excessive  dependence  on  him  in  spiritual 


16 


THE  CHARITIES 


matters  a  fault  in  her,  he  left  the  noble  family  in  July,  1617, 
under  the  pretext  of  making  a  little  voyage.  With  the  ap¬ 
proval  of  Pere  de  Berulle,  he  sought  appointment  as  parish 
priest  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  called  to-day  Chatillon-sur- 
Chalaronne,  in  the  eastern  part  of  France.  Here  he  re¬ 
formed  the  clergy,  led  several  Protestants  back  to  the 
Church,  and  founded  his  first  conference  of  charity  for  the 
assistance  of  the  needy  sick. 

But  M.  and  Mme.  de  Gondi  would  not  rest  until  they  and 
their  friends  had  prevailed  upon  Vincent  to  return  to  them 
after  an  absence  of  only  five  months.  Vincent  profited  by 
his  experiences.  He  had  learned  during  his  former  stay  with 
the  Gondis  the  immense  amount  of  good  that  could  be 
effected  through  the  missions  among  the  people;  he  had 
also  learned  while  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes  the  blessings  of 
the  conferences  of  charity.  He  accordingly  resumed  the 
peasant  missions  on  the  Gondi  estates  and  established  a  con¬ 
ference  of  charity  after  each  mission  whenever  possible. 
Several  zealous  and  learned  priests  of  Paris,  won  by  his 
example,  joined  him  and  assisted  him  in  his  missions  and 
charitable  activities. 

M.  de  Gondi,  witnessing  the  remarkable  fruits  of  Vin¬ 
cent's  efforts,  wished  to  have  the  galley  slaves  under  his 
jurisdiction  participate  in  the  same  blessings.  He  accord¬ 
ingly  induced  the  king  to  appoint  St.  Vincent  royal  almoner 
of  the  galleys  (1619).  St.  Vincent  visited  the  prisoners  at 
Paris,  Marseilles,  and  Bordeaux  and  did  much  for  their 
temporal  and  spiritual  amelioration.  (Cf.  pp.  235-43.)  His 
most  reliable  biographers  attest  the  fact  that  he  even  took 
the  place  of  a  galley  slave  and  served  in  chains  for  several 
weeks  before  being  discovered  and  released.5 

He  founded  the  Congregation  of  the  Priests  of  the  Mis¬ 
sion  in  1625  and,  nine  years  later,  the  Daughters  of  Charity. 
He  assisted  at  the  death  of  Louis  XIII  in  1643,  and  in  the 


5  Abelly,  La  vie  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul,  Paris,  1664,  last  ed.  Paris,  1891, 
iii.,  162;  Collet,  Vie  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul ,  Nancy,  1748,  English  trans.  Bal¬ 
timore,  1845,  53;  Maynard,  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  sa  vie ,  son  temps,  Paris, 
1850-74,  iii.,  ch.  i.  For  recent  discussion  of  the  question,  cf.  Coste,  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  de  Paul  a-t-il  pris  a  Marseille  les  fcrs  d’un  forgat?  in  Revue  de  Gas¬ 
cogne,  1910. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


17 


same  year  was  appointed  to  the  Council  of  Conscience0  by 
the  queen  regent,  Anne  of  Austria.  His  remaining  days 
were  occupied  in  organizing,  stabilizing,  and  directing  his 
many  works  of  charity  which  form  the  subject  of  the  follow¬ 
ing  pages.  He  died  Sept.  27,  1660,  and  was  canonized  by 
Pope  Clement  XII  June  16,  1737.  Pope  Leo  XIII  on  May  12, 
1885,  declared  him  the  universal  patron  of  Catholic 
charities. 

2.  Characteristics 

The  characteristic  traits  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  have 
all  been  depicted  more  or  less  fully  and  more  or  less  skillfully 
by  his  many  biographers.  In  conformity  with  the  single 
purpose  of  this  study,  therefore,  I  have  merely  endeavored 
in  the  following  pages  to  stress  those  of  his  qualities  and 
virtues  which  have  some  bearing  on  his  social  activities  and 
on  his  relations  with  his  fellow  men.  In  doing  so,  I  have, 
wherever  possible,  allowed  him  to  portray  his  character  in 
his  own  words  and  works.  I  have  gone  somewhat  into  de¬ 
tail,  especially  when  treating  points  of  character  not  com¬ 
monly  emphasized  in  his  biographies,  in  the  hope  that  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  man  will  lead  to  a  better  under¬ 
standing  of  his  works. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  exterior  appearance  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  casual  ob¬ 
server.  As  pictured  by  his  first  biographer  and  represented 
by  his  earliest  portrait,* * * * 7  he  was  of  medium  height  and  well- 
proportioned.  His  head  was  rather  fleshy  and  large  but 
well  formed  in  relation  to  the  rest  of  his  body.  His  forehead 
was  broad  and  majestic,  his  nose  strongly  aquiline.  His 
hearing  was  sharp,  his  look  kind  and  mild  but  keen  and 
penetrating. 

He  was  far  from  being  the  strong  and  healthy  man  that 


•'  A  council  established  by  Anne  of  Austria  after  the  death  of  Louis  XI II 

for  consultation  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  It  was  composed  of  the  Minister 

Cardinal  Mazarin,  St.  Vincent  and  two  others.  It  was  dissolved  after  an 

existence  of  only  a  few  years. 

7  Vincent  ever  stubbornly  refused  to  pose  for  a  portrait.  Even  his  con¬ 
freres  had  lost  hopes  of  conquering  his  repugnance  and  resorted  to  a  ruse. 
They  invited  the  painter,  Simon  Francois,  to  come  to  Saint-Lazare  and  as 
he  sat  among  the  retreatants  he  studied  the  features  of  the  Saint.  Retiring- 
then  to  his  room,  he  committed  them  to  canvas.  Abelly,  i.,  114. 


18 


THE  CHARITIES 


his  robust  exterior  would  suggest.8  His  naturally  vigorous 
constitution  had  been  weakened  by  the  sufferings  of  his 
captivity,  his  mortified  and  penitential  life,  his  labors  on 
the  missions,  and  by  his  constant  application  under  all  con¬ 
ditions  of  weather  and  climate  to  works  of  charity.  He  was 
very  sensitive  to  atmospheric  changes  and  influences  and 
was,  in  consequence,  subject  to  frequent  attacks  of  fever.9 
In  the  fray  which  preceded  his  capture  by  the  pirates  in 
1605,  he  received  an  arrow  wound,  which,  as  he  wrote  two 
years  later,  would  serve  him  as  an  hour-glass10  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  He  fell  seriously  ill  during  his  stay  with  the 
Gondi  family  and  never  entirely  recuperated.  He  was 
troubled  with  swollen  legs  ever  after.  This  affliction  became 
worse  and  more  painful  as  years  went  by,  and  others  were 
added.  He  found  himself  compelled,  much  against  his 
wishes,  to  make  his  visits  of  charity  and  calls  of  duty  on 
horseback  or  by  carriage  from  the  time  that  he  took  up  his 
residence  at  Saint-Lazare  in  1632,  28  years  before  his  death. 

Though  ever  solicitous  for  the  health  and  physical  well¬ 
being  of  those  under  his  charge,  he  was  neglectful  of  his 
own.  He  made  light  of  his  maladies  and  preferred  them  at 
times  to  the  remedies  prescribed  by  his  physician.  In  spite 
of  sleepless  nights  and  consequent  weakness  during  his  fever 
attacks,  he  refused  to  remain  in  the  infirmary  and  insisted 
on  rising  with  the  community  at  four  o’clock,  omitting  none 
of  his  usual  spiritual  exercises  and  going  about  his  daily 
affairs  and  strenuous  occupations  as  though  in  perfect  health. 

During  these  times,  however,  in  spite  of  himself,  he 
would  frequently  succumb  to  sleep  while  giving  audiences  in 
the  course  of  the  day  and  at  times  even  in  the  presence  of 
prominent  personages.  Much  embarrassed,  he  would  con¬ 
ceal  the  real  cause  of  his  weakness  and  attribute  it  with  his 


8  I  have  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  mention  sources  in  confirmation  of 
facts  in  St.  Vincent’s  life  commonly  found  in  his  biographies.  The  bio¬ 
graphical  data  incorporated  in  the  present  work  can  be  found  in  the  biogra¬ 
phies  by  Abelly,  Collet,  and  Maynard  (Cf.  Bibliography) ,  when  no  special 
reference  is  given. 

9  He  repeatedly  makes  mention  of  his  fever  in  his  letters,  especially  to 
Mile,  le  Gras. 

10  H orloge,  possibly  used  in  the  sense  of  barometer.  Lett.,  i.,  5,  No.  i, 
To  M.  de  Commet,  July  24,  1607. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


19 


usual  humility  to  his  misery.  He  bore  his  sufferings  at  all 
times  with  remarkable  patience  and  calm  resignation  to  the 
will  of  God. 

St.  Vincent  had  by  nature  a  passionate  temperament  and 
lively  disposition.  As  he  himself  confesses,  he  gave  way  a 
little  at  times  to  his  bilious  and  melancholy  nature  while  with 
the  Gondi  family,  but  when  he  learned  that  God  had  called 
him  to  live  a  community  life  where  he  had  to  meet,  and  deal 
with,  people  of  all  dispositions,  he  prayed  God  to  grant  him 
a  kind  and  gentle  temper.  And,  as  he  humbly  adds,  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  with  a  little  care  he  succeeded  to  some 
extent  in  laying  aside  his  gloomy  nature.11  He  succeeded 
so  well,  in  fact,  that,  as  he  was  accustomed  to  say,  he  used 
harsh  words  when  reprehending  and  correcting  others  but 
three  times  in  his  life,  and  his  admirers  considered  him 
second  only  to  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  his  contemporary,  in 
meekness  and  gentleness. 

Meekness,  however,  was  by  no  means  identical  with  weak¬ 
ness  in  the  character  of  Vincent  de  Paul.  Heedless  alike  of 
the  favor  or  hatred  of  men,  he  was  guided  solely  by  the 
justice  of  the  case  when  there  was  question  of  right  and 
wrong.  He  epitomized  his  policy  in  this  regard  when  he  one 
day  told  the  members  of  his  Congregation  that  he  would 
“prefer  to  be  bound  hand  and  foot  and  thrown  among 
burning  coals  than  to  perform  an  act  to  please  men.”12 
“One  must  not  be  solicitous  to  please  nor  fear  to  dis¬ 
please,”  he  told  the  Daughters  of  Charity.  “Provided  you 
acquit  yourselves  well  of  your  duty,  there  is  no  need  of 
being  troubled.”13  He  refused  to  have  an  abbacy  assigned 
to  the  infant  son  of  the  Secretary  of  State.11  In  spite  of 
vigorous  protests  on  the  part  of  a  nobleman  who  wished 
to  have  his  incompetent  daughter  succeed  to  the  office  of 
abbess  in  a  certain  convent,  he  prevented  it,  though  the 
office  had  by  abuse  become  practically  hereditary  in  the 
family.  Casting  aside  all  human  prudence  and  risking 
the  displeasure  of  Richelieu,  he  one  day  approached  the 
all-powerful  minister,  laid  bare  the  dire  distress  of  the 

11  Abelly.  iii.,  245. 

12  Ibid.,  46. 

13  Lett,  et  Confer,  dc  S.  Vincent  de  P.  (Supplement) ,  352. 

14  Lett.,  i.,  499,  No.  434.  To  M.  d’Horgnv  at  Rome,  July  16,  1645. 


20 


THE  CHARITIES 


people  and  the  disorders  and  crimes  resulting  from  the  war, 
and  begged  him  to  end  it  all  by  procuring  peace  for  France. 

St.  Vincent  was  in  no  wise  imperious  or  overbearing  in 
his  relations  with  his  subjects.  The  youngest  lay  brother 
of  his  Congregation  could  approach  him  with  the  same 
frankness  and  confidence  as  could  one  of  the  superiors. 
Instead  of  issuing  his  commands  outright,  he  preferred, 
sometimes  with  lengthy  argumentation,  to  convince  his  sub¬ 
jects  of  the  reasonableness  or  necessity  of  a  special  course 
of  action  which  he  expected  them  to  pursue.15 

He  was  kind,  affable,  respectful,  and  considerate  towards 
all.  In  spite  of  his  many  labors,  he  was  ever  disposed  to 
receive  and  listen  to  those  who  called  on  him,  whatever 
their  mission.  He  received  with  equal  attention  and  affa¬ 
bility  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  high  and  the  lowly.  If  he 
was  in  any  way  partial,  it  was  rather  in  favor  of  the  lowly 
and  afflicted.  His  respect  for  the  poor  was,  in  fact,  almost 
a  veneration.  It  wras  a  respect  so  deeply  founded  on  convic¬ 
tion  that,  far  from  abating  because  of  his  daily  and  familiar 
contact  with  poverty  and  misery,  at  times  the  most  squalid 
and  repulsive,  it  increased  with  years.  “As  long  as  you  did 
it  to  one  of  these  my  least  brethren,  you  did  it  to  me”10  was 
for  him  no  empty  figure  of  speech,  not  merely  a  lofty  ideal, 
but  a  stern  reality,  an  ever-present,  impelling,  and  directing 
force  in  his  alleviation  of  stricken  humanity.  He  beheld 
in  the  sick  and  poor  his  own  suffering  Savior  and  treated 
them  with  a  corresponding  tenderness. 

An  event  well  worthy  of  note  as  showing  the  depths  of 
Vincent’s  respectful  consideration  for  the  poor  and  mani¬ 
festing  to  what  extremes  his  sympathy  for  them  went, 
occurred  one  day  upon  his  return  from  the  city.  At  the 
door  of  Saint-Lazare  he  met  some  poor  women  who  begged 
an  alms.  He  promised  to  grant  it,  but,  entering  the  house, 
he  was  distracted  by  other  important  matters  and  allowed 
it  to  escape  his  memory.  When  reminded  of  it  some  time 
later,  he  went  immediately  to  the  parlor,  apologized  on  his 


15  Cf.  Ibid.,  84,  No.  73.  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  Feb.  16,  1634;  Lett., 
iii.,  373,  No.  1309,  To  a  Bro.  of  the  Mission  at  Agen,  Nov.  11,  1656;  Ibid., 
540,  No.  1453,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  Aug.  24,  1657. 

16  Matt.  25.40. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


21 


knees  for  having  made  them  wait,  and  gave  them  the  alms 
they  needed. 

St.  Vincent  began  at  an  early  age  to  give  tangible  ex- 
pression  to  the  promptings  of  his  naturally  generous  and 
sympathetic  heart.  If  he  met  a  poor  man  when  return¬ 
ing  from  the  mill  whither  his  father  had  sent  him  for  flour, 
he  would  open  the  sack  and  give  him  several  handfuls.  It 
is  particularly  related  of  him  that,  when  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  of  age,  having  gradually  laid  aside  thirty  sous,  a 
considerable  sum  for  that  time,  he  gave  it  all  to  a  poor  man 
in  great  distress. 

In  later  years  his  active  charity  was  as  general  and  as 
universal  as  is  the  foundation  on  which  it  rested — the  love 
of  God.  It  was  all-embracing.  He  consecrated  his  energies 
to  the  spiritual  and  moral  amelioration  of  the  poor  ignorant 
people  of  the  country.  He  encouraged  and  fostered  the 
establishment  of  elementary  schools.  As  for  corporal  relief, 
•there  was  no  disease,  no  distress,  that  failed  to  strike  a 
responsive  chord  in  his  generous  heart.  Neither  nationality, 
nor  creed,17  nor  social  rank  and  status,  formed  a  barrier  to 
his  charitable  zeal.  He  had  regard  for  the  poor  journeyman 
tailor  who  applied  to  him  by  mail  from  a  distant  village  for 
a  few  needles  no  less  than  for  the  extreme  misery  of  a  devas¬ 
tated  province.  His  charity  went  out  to  the  poor  beggar 
at  his  door  as  well  as  to  the  impoverished  population  of  war- 
torn  frontiers  and  to  the  needy  of  foreign  lands. 

Vincent  was  slow  and  reluctant,  however,  to  open  up 
new  fields  of  charitable  activity  on  his  own  initiative.  In 
his  humility  he  distrusted  his  own  judgment  and  was  fearful 

17  Feillet  (La  miscre  ail  temps  de  la  Fronde ,  etc.,  239,  n.)  says  on  this 
point :  “We  seize  this  occasion  to  make  reparation  for  the  reproach  of 
intolerance  which,  on  a  text  wrongly  understood,  we  addressed  to  Vincent 
de  Paul  in  our  work  in  the  Revue  de  Paris;  a  much  more  serious  study  of 
the  epoch,  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Saint  which  the  reading  of  all 
his  unedited  letters  has  given  us,  has  convinced  us  entirely  that  Vincent  in 
the  presence  of  misfortune  never  inquired  to  what  religion  one  belonged. 
\\  e  have  found  in  the  archives  of  the  Mission  a  letter  which  leaves  no  doubt 
conterning  the  broad  tolerance  of  the  Saint.”  The  letter  referred  to  is 
undoubtedly  that  of  April  26,  1651,  addressed  to  M.  Coglee,  the  superior  at 
Sedan.  This  priest  of  the  Mission  had  asked  if  he  could  extend  the  distri¬ 
bution  of  alms  to  the  Huguenots  of  the  devastated  frontiers  as  well  as  to 
the  Catholics.  St.  Vincent,  answering  before  he  had  an  opportunity  of  pro¬ 
posing  the  matter  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  wrote  as  follows  :  “I  shall  be 
glad  if  the  Ladies  order  it  as  you  propose.  .  .  .”  Lett.,  ii.,  329-30,  No.  789. 


22 


THE  CHARITIES 


of  self-deception,  especially  when  there  was  question  of  dis¬ 
cerning  the  designs  of  God  in  some  extraordinary  under¬ 
taking.  The  conviction  was  ever  before  his  mind  that  he 
was  a  creature  and,  as  such,  necessary  or  useful  only  in  so 
far  as  his  Creator  willed ;  that  of  himself  he  was  powerless, 
that  he  required  literally  at  every  breath  the  assistance  of 
God,  and  that  any  interference  or  precipitation  on  his  part, 
especially  in  works  more  intimately  relating  to  God’s  serv¬ 
ice,  would  lead  to  failure  rather  than  to  success. 

Thus  we  find  that  some  of  his  greatest  works  were  con¬ 
ceived  and  forced  upon  him  by  others.  The  Congregation  of 
the  Mission  owes  its  foundation  in  reality  to  the  ingenuity 
and  persistence  of  Mme.  de  Gondi.  The  retreats  for  the 
candidates  for  the  priesthood  were  suggested  by  the  bishops 
of  Beauvais  and  Paris.  A  young  priest  proposed  the  Tues¬ 
day  Conferences.18  Louis  XIII  inaugurated  the  work  among 
the  Christian  captives.  The  missionary  activities  on  the 
Island  of  Madagascar  resulted  from  the  appointment  of  the 
Papal  Nuncio.19  Mme.  Goussault  succeeded  in  persuading 
St.  Vincent  to  organize  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  the  Hotel- 
Dieu  only  after  enlisting  the  aid  and  sympathy  of  the  arch¬ 
bishop  of  Paris.  Perhaps,  the  only  instances  where  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  took  the  initiative  were  the  establishing  of  the  first 
conference  of  charity  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  the  caring  of 
the  foundlings,  and  the  starting  of  the  Old  Folks’  Home. 

St.  Vincent  was,  therefore,  not  an  inventive  but  an  organ¬ 
izing  and  directing  genius.  He  gained  a  place  among  the 
greatest  expositors  of  Christian  charity  by  his  admirable 
ability  to  translate  into  practicable  form  the  ideas  of 
others,  of  organizing  and  stabilizing  associations  of  charity 
as  also  by  his  inimitable  faculty  of  inspiring  others  with  a 
holy,  self-sacrificing  enthusiasm,  and  of  encouraging  them 
to  persevere  in  a  work  once  undertaken  even  in  the  face  of 
seemingly  insurmountable  difficulties. 

A  very  striking  trait  everywhere  evident  in  St.  Vincent’s 


18  Lett.,  i.,  77,  No.  64,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  July  5,  1633.  These 
conferences  were  composed  of  a  number  of  zealous  priests  of  the  secular 
clergy  of  Paris  who  bound  themselves  voluntarily  to  meet  every  Tuesday 
at  Saint-Lazare  to  confer  on  the  virtues  and  duties  of  their  state  of  life. 

19  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  239. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


23 


active  life  is  his  broadmindedness  or  absence  of  all  that 
could  be  interpreted  as  jealousy  or  exclusiveness.  Though 
undoubtedly  the  most  prominent  and  enthusiastic  dispenser 
of  Christian  charity  of  his  time,  having  at  his  command  the 
best  equipped  organization,  enjoying  the  favor  of  the  royal 
court  and  the  unbounded  confidence  of  the  people,  and  being 
for  a  time  the  royally  appointed  almoner  of  Picardy  and 
Champagne,  still  he  never  for  a  moment  thought  that  he 
enjoyed  any  monopoly  of  charitable  works.  He  never 
dreamt  of  subordinating  other  associations  to  his  direction, 
or  of  attempting  to  exclude  them  from  the  field.  On  the 
contrary,  he  cordially  welcomed  and  encouraged  every  effort 
that  tended  to  relieve  the  spiritual,  intellectual,  or  material 
distress  of  the  age. 

He  beheld  the  misery  around  him.  Its  alleviation  was  his 
one  great  desire.  By  whom  it  was  accomplished  was  to  him 
in  his  humility  and  disinterestedness  a  matter  of  indiffer¬ 
ence.  “I  praise  God,”  he  writes  in  one  of  his  letters,20  “that 
He  finds  fit  to  raise  up  in  this  country  so  many  good  and 
holy  souls  for  the  assistance  of  the  poor  people,  and  I  be¬ 
seech  Him  with  all  my  heart  to  bless  the  designs  of  these 
saintly  ecclesiastics  and  to  lead  them  to  success  for  His 
glory.”  A  society  of  priests  for  the  conducting  of  missions 
was  organized  on  the  plan  of  St.  Vincent’s.  He  encouraged 
the  undertaking  and  congratulated  its  author.21  The  Papal 
Nuncio  asked  him  on  one  occasion  if  he  in  any  way  objected 
to  the  Fathers  of  the  Christian  Doctrine,  whose  purpose  was 
similar  to  that  of  his  Congregation.  “I  answered  him,”  he 
wrote  later,22  “that,  far  from  causing  us  pain,  we  shall  be 
very  glad  that  both  these  and  many  other  religious  and 
priests  should  be  employed,  as  is  becoming,  for  the  instruc¬ 
tion  and  salvation  of  the  people.”  He  even  went  so  far  as 
to  ask  “our  Savior,  not  only  that  He  bless  the  intentions 
and  the  works  of  these  new  missionaries  [against  whom 
some  opposition  had  arisen],  but  also  that,  if  He  see  that 

20  Lett., J.,  82-3,  No.  70,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  Jan.  17,  1634.  Cf. 
also  Lett.,  iii.,  467,  No.  1391,  To  M.  Levazeux,  Supr.  at  Annecy,  June  1, 
1657;  Lett.,  i v.,  571,  No.  2043,  To  M.  Desdames,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  June  18, 
1660. 

21  Lett.,  i.,  94,  No.  86,  M.  de  Fonteneil,  Dec.  7,  1634. 

22  Lett.,  iv.,  287,  No.  1802,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Mar.  14,  1659. 


24 


THE  CHARITIES 


they  are  to  do  better”  than  the  Congregation  of  the  Mis¬ 
sion,  He  destroy  the  latter  and  preserve  the  former.23 

He  also  cautioned  his  men  against  jealousy  and  envy 
towards  other  religious  communities,  telling  them  rather 
to  be  lavish  in  approving  their  good  works.  He  praised  the 
missionary  and  charitable  activities  of  Pere  Eudes  and  his 
men,24  eulogized  Pere  Bourdoise  and  his  efforts  for  ecclesias¬ 
tical  reform,25  rejoiced  at  the  success  of  the  Oratorians,26 
and  frequently  expressed  his  joy  at  the  success  of  the 
Jesuits.27  He  allowed  one  of  his  best  missionaries  to  spend 
some  time  with  those  of  another  society  and  permitted  one 
of  these  latter  to  witness  missions  given  by  his  men  with 
the  express  purpose  of  giving  them  an  opportunity  of  learn¬ 
ing  and  adopting  his  methods. 2S 

Still,  we  must  not  imagine  that  St.  Vincent  was  indiffer¬ 
ent  to  the  origin  and  progress  of  new  organizations  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  jeopardize  the  existence  and  prosperity  of 
his  own.  He  even  requested  and  obtained  from  the  Holy 
See  a  prohibition  against  the  organization  of  secular  priests 
into  societies  that  would  be  prejudicial  to  him.29  There  are 
several  instances  where  he  strenuously  objected  to  another 
company  assuming  the  same  name  as  his  own.  This,  he 
said,  would  cause  useless  confusion  and  militate  against  his 
Congregation.30  A  dispute  arose  between  his  Company  and 
the  Fathers  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  over  a  will  caused  by 
the  similarity  of  names.  Vincent  refused  to  yield  until 
certain  that  the  opposing  parties  were  the  beneficiaries 
designated.31 

Closely  allied  to  St.  Vincent’s  reluctance  to  open  up  new 
fields  of  activity  and  to  the  absence  of  jealousy  in  his  dis- 


23  Lett.,  iii.,  530.  No.  1443,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome. 

24  Lett.,  i\\,  570,  XT.  2043.  M.  Desdames,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  June  18,  1660. 

25  Az  is  et  Confer,  ait. v  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  88,  No.  39,  July  18,  1655. 

26  Lett.,  iii.,  417,  No.  1341,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  Feb.  9,  1657. 

27  Lett.,  iv.,  526,  527,  No.  1997.  to  M.  Barry,  Supr.  at  Notre  Dame  de 

Lorme,  Jan.  4,  1660;  Lett,  ct  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  P.  (Suppl.),  120,  NTo. 
3099,  To  a  Priest  of  the  Mission,  June  14,  1656. 

28  Lett.,  i.,  65-6.  NT.  51,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome. 'July  12,  1632. 

29  Lett.,  ii.,  366,  No.  825,  To  the  Sacred  Congregation,  Dec.  10,  1651; 

Ibid.,  374,  No.  830,  Dec.  21,  1651;  cf.  also,  v.g.,  Lett.,  iii.,  594,  No.  1492,  To 

M.  l’Abbe  de  Saint- Just.  Grand  Vicar  of  Lyons,  Oct.  5,  1657. 

30  V.g.,  Lett.,  iii.,  370,  No.  1306,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Oct.  27,  1656. 

31  Ibid.,  495,  No.  1415,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  July  13,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


25 


position,  was  his  unobtrusiveness.  He  ever  carefully  re¬ 
frained  from  interfering  with  or,  trespassing  upon,  the 
activities  of  others.  He  firmly  declined,  for  example,  to 
interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  Paris  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mme.  Goussault.  This  hospital  had  as  spir¬ 
itual  and  temporal  directors  and  administrators  persons 
whom  he  considered  wise  and  capable  enough  to  introduce 
the  necessary  regulations  of  reform.  Only  the  orders  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  could  prevail  upon  him  to  take  steps 
in  the  matter.  At  the  command  of  the  queen  regent,  Vin¬ 
cent  sent  some  of  his  priests  to  conduct  a  mission  at  Fon¬ 
tainebleau.  Contrary  to  expectation,  they  found  a  religious 
preaching  there  at  the  same  time.  They  opened  the  mission 
in  deference  to  the  queen’s  wishes  but  arranged  their  plan 
of  exercises  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  other’s  preaching. 
The  people,  however,  flocked  in  great  numbers  to  hear  the 
missionaries  while  the  attendance  at  the  sermons  of  the 
religious  soon  became  negligible.  This  occasioned  dissatis¬ 
faction  and  the  religious  protested.  The  missionaries, 
doubting  whether  they  should  obey  the  queen  and  continue 
the  mission,  or  follow  the  rule  of  St.  Vincent  in  such  cir¬ 
cumstances  and  retire,  referred  the  matter  to  Vincent.  The 
latter  dispatched  a  messenger  to  the  queen  explaining  the 
matter  and  begging  her  permission  to  recall  his  men.  She 
granted  the  request,  and  St.  Vincent  immediately  assigned 
his  missionaries  to  other  fields  of  labor. 

He  would  do  nothing  in  a  diocese  without  the  consent 
of  the  bishop  nor  in  a  parish  without  that  of  the  parish 
priest.  And  even  though  he  had  been  commissioned  by  the 
bishop  to  give  missions  throughout  his  diocese,  he  invariably 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  individual  pastors  before  pro¬ 
ceeding.  He  expressly  forbade  his  missionaries  “even  to 
move  a  straw  without  their  consent.”32  He  instructed  Mile, 
le  Gras  to  retrench  her  activities  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
Bishop  of  Chalon,  and  to  retire  entirely  if  he  so  desired.33 
He  did  not  want  his  Daughters  of  Charity  to  nurse  the  sick 
soldiers  in  the  hospital  at  Arras,  because,  on  the  one  hand, 


32  Abelly,  iii.,  318;  and  passim  in  Lcltrcs,  etc. 

33  Lett.,  i.,  45,  No.  33,  Sept.  15,  1631  ;  Ibid.,  52,  No.  39,  Oct.  31,  1631. 


26 


THE  CHARITIES 


there  were  capable  and  willing  religious  assigned  to  the 
task,  and,  on  the  other,  his  Sisters  had  been  sent  thither  to 
nurse  the  abandoned  sick.34 

Another  manifestation  of  his  unaggressiveness  is  seen 
when  confronted  with  a  dispute  or  legal  claim.  He  always 
preferred  to  withdraw  from  a  quarrel  and  refrain  from 
court-proceedings  even  at  the  cost  of  considerable  personal 
loss  unless  the  honor  of  God,  the  rights  of  others,  or  the 
duties  of  charity  were  involved.  And  even  when  higher 
obligations  demanded  the  prosecution  of  rightful  claims,  he 
had  recourse  to  lawsuits  only  after  all  attempts  to  arrive 
at  an  amicable  settlement  by  mutual  agreement,  arbitra¬ 
tion,  or  compromise  had  proven  futile.35 

It  was  this  spirit  of  reserve  and  unaggressiveness,  this 
reluctance  to  intervene  and  readiness  to  withdraw,  united 
with  his  quiet,  unostentatious  method  of  procedure  and  pref¬ 
erence  for  the  humble,  neglected,  abandoned  portions  of  the 
field  of  charity  that  contributed  largely  to  St.  Vincent’s 
remarkable  success.  For  in  this  way,  far  from  arousing 
jealousies,  or  causing  friction,  or  antagonizing  other  agen¬ 
cies,  institutions,  or  individuals,  he  gained  their  sympathy 
for  his  cause,  won  their  good  will,  and  enlisted  their  aid 
and  cooperation. 

St.  Vincent  loved  to  style  himself  a  poor  scholar  of  the 
fourth  class,  but,  in  reality,  his  mental  ability  would  un¬ 
doubtedly  have  procured  for  him  an  enviable  position  among 
the  intellectual  lights  of  his  day  had  he  chosen  to  consecrate 
his  efforts  to  a  career  of  study.  He  was  well  talented  by 
nature  and  fond  of  his  books.  From  the  beginning  he  made 
rapid  progress  in  his  studies.  He  devoted  sixteen  years  to 
intense  study  in  the  elementary  school  of  the  village  of  Dax 
and  in  the  Universities  of  Saragossa  and  Toulouse.  He 
attained  the  Licentiate  in  Canon  Law36  and  the  Baccalaureate 


34  Lett.,  iv.,  18,  No.  1597,  To  M.  Delville,  Priest  of  the  Mission  of  Arras, 
Feb.  1,  1658. 

35  Cf.  v.g.,  Abefly,  iii.,  387;  Lett.,  ii.,  479,  No.  907,  To  M.  TAbbe  de  Chan- 
denier,  Sept.  15,  1652;  Lett.,  iii.,  278,  No.  1236,  To  M.  Rivet,  Priest  of  the 
Mission  at  Saintes,  May  14,  1656. 

36  He  makes  use  of  this  title  {v.g.,  Lett.,  i.,  19,  No.  7.  April  11,  1627),  but 
there  is  no  record  telling  us  when  or  where  he  received  it. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


27 


in  Sacred  Theology.37  This  latter  title  empowered  him  to 
teach  publicly  the  Second  Book  of  Peter  Lombard's  Sentences 
in  the  University  of  Toulouse.  As  far  as  is  known,  however, 
he  never  made  use  of  the  privilege. 

But  had  Jansenism  not  threatened  the  Church  of  France 
at  this  period,  we  should  probably  have  no  definite  record 
of  the  depth  and  soundness  of  Vincent’s  theological  learning. 
It  was  only  his  love  for  the  Church  and  his  zeal  for  souls, 
both  of  which  were  jeopardized  by  these  errors,  that 
prompted  him  to  lay  aside  his  wonted  reserve  and  aversion 
of  all  that  savored  of  display  of  knowledge,  and  to  raise  his 
voice  and  wield  his  pen  in  defense  of  the  truth.38  He  saw 
through  the  errors  and  sophistries  of  the  innovators  and 
vindicated  the  truth  with  a  clearness  and  precision  that  won 
for-  him  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  his  contemporaries. 
The  bishops  of  France  respectfully  heeded  his  warnings  and 
procured  from  the  Holy  See  an  official  condemnation  of  the 
Jansenistic  errors.  Several  learned  doctors  submitted  to 
him  their  writings  against  the  new  doctrine  for  revision 
and  correction  before  publishing  them. 

The  words  and  writings  of  St.  Vincent  show  evidences  of 
a  mind  eminently  capable  of  understanding  a  subject  in  all 
its  phases  and  relations,  and  of  arranging  and  propounding 
it  in  a  lucid,  logical  and  systematic  manner.  In  a  series  of 
discourses  the  introduction  to  each  consisted  as  a  rule  in  a 
brief  resume  of  the  preceding.  He  would  then  propose  the 
plan  of  the  present  treatise,  which  usually  comprised  three 
points.  His  favorite  ones  were  answers  to  the  questions 
what,  why  and  how.  For  example,  his  conference  of  May 
13,  1659,  to  the  members  of  his  Congregation  treated  of 
“Uniformity  in  Community  Life.”  He  first  gives  a 
definition  of  this  uniformity,  proceeds  to  adduce  reasons 
for  its  practice,  and  concludes  by  proposing  means  for  its 
attainment.39 

1  he  Gallia  Christiana  attributes  to  him  also  the  title  of  Doctor  of 
Sacred  Theology.  \\  e  have,  however,  no  reliable  evidence  for  it.  The  au¬ 
thentic  attestation  issued  by  the  University  of  Toulouse  in  1664  (4  years  after 
\  incent’s  death)  makes  mention  of  the  Baccalaureate  only.  Abelly,  i.,  27. 

s*  He  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Conscience  at  this  time  and  also 
in  this  capacity  felt  it  his  duty  to  act. 

39Azis  et  Confer,  an. r  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  441,  No.  105;  cf.  also, 
v.g.,  ibid.,  pp.  340,  354,  400. 


28 


THE  CHARITIES 


One  of  St.  Vincent’s  most  characteristic  traits  was  his 
consummate  prudence.  His  contemporaries  commonly 
acknowledged  him  as  a  man  of  superior  judgment.  People 
of  all  walks  and  callings  of  life — eminent  and  learned 
bishops,  magistrates,  noblemen,  pastors  of  souls,  doctors, 
religious,  superiors  of  religious  communities,  all  flocked  to 
him  and  sought  his  advice  on  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  Anne 
of  Austria,  the  queen  regent,  appointed  him  to  the  Council 
of  Conscience.  The  illustrious  Guillaume  de  Lamoignon, 
the  First  President  of  the  Parliament,  consulted  him  as  a 
superior  mind  not  only  in  matters  of  conscience,  but  also 
in  secular  affairs.  The  Nuncios  Bagni  and  Piccolomini 
sought  his  advice  on  different  occasions  concerning  impor¬ 
tant  ecclesiastical  matters.  There  was  scarcely  a  religious 
affair  treated  in  Paris  without  his  participation  or  counsel. 

Vincent  de  Paul  was  eminently  fitted  to  form  an  unbiased 
opinion  on  matters  submitted  to  his  judgment.  His  natural 
gifts  of  mind  enabled  him  to  discern  circumstances  and 
difficulties  otherwise  easily  overlooked.  His  perfect 
detachment  from  all  things  earthly  precluded  the  influence 
of  selfish  interests.  His  command  over  his  passions  and 
feelings  preserved  him  from  hasty  decisions.  His  utter 
disregard  for  human  considerations  permitted  him  to  rise 
superior  to  human  respect;  he  would  only  ask  himself: 
“What  will  I  wish  to  have  advised  when  I  come  to  die?”  or 
“What  would  our  Lord  have  said  or  done  under  these  circum¬ 
stances?”40  More  than  this,  diffident  of  his  own  faculties, 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  consult  others  and  would  always  seek 

light  and  direction  from  God.  “Where  human  prudence 

& 

fails  and  sees  nothing,  there  the  light  of  divine  wisdom 
begins  to  dawn,”  is  one  of  his  sayings.41  He  opened  and 
read  his  important  letters  and  pondered  over  delicate 
and  difficult  matters  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

He  was  very  insistent  on  acquainting  himself  with  all 
details  before  venturing  an  advice  or  making  a  decision. 
“Be  assured,”  he  writes  in  one  of  his  letters,42  “you  can 


40  Abellv,  iii.,  461,  496. 

41  Ibid.,  344- 

42  Lett.,  i.,  529,  No.  459, 


1646. 


To  M. 


Bourdet,  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  June  29, 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


29 


allege  no  reason  which  I  have  not  considered.”  And  again 
he  writes  :43  “Having  considered  the  matter  in  all  its  cir¬ 
cumstances,  I  will  tell  you  plainly,  etc.”  In  settling  disputes, 
too,  he  heard  both  sides  of  the  difficulty  and  insisted  on  the 
necessity  of  considering  whatever  might  favor  the  opposing 
party,  just  as  though  he  were  present  to  plead  his  own  cause 
in  person. 

We  frequently  find  him  suspending  judgment  on  some 
particular  point  until  further  and  more  detailed  information 
was  forthcoming.  We  may  cite  the  following  as  being 
fairly  typical  of  the  many  cases  found  in  his  letters :  “I  do 
not  know  what  to  tell  you  concerning  the  little  church  of 
Saint-Jean  since  you  do  not  mention  the  price.”44  “You 
should  have  told  me  the  reasons  pro  and  con  so  that  I  might 
pass  judgment.”45  “Since  you  fail  to  say  sufficiently  in 
detail  how  it  happened,  I  cannot  pass  judgment.”40  A 
missionary  had  asked  if  it  were  proper  for  a  priest  having 
a  knowledge  of  medicine,  to  attend  the  sick  of  the  place 
during  a  mission.  “I  ought  to  know,”  St.  Vincent 
answered.47  “who  this  is,  what  the  remedies  are  that  he 
makes,  and  for  what  kind  of  sickness ;  I  beg  you  to  tell  me 
this  before  I  answer  you.”  A  priory  had  been  offered  to 
his  brethren  in  Alsace.  He  wrote  in  answer :  “Before 
considering  this  proposition,  it  is  necessary  to  know  the 
name  and  place  of  the  priory  offered ;  of  what  order,  what 
the  revenue  and  what  the  charges;  on  whom  it  depends; 
if  there  are  religious  there,  buildings,  etc.”4S 

Far  from  being  conceited  or  self-reliant  in  forming  his 
judgments,  St.  Vincent  eagerly  sought  the  views  of  others 
and  welcomed  their  suggestions  and  criticisms.  “Be 
assured,  sir,"  he  writes,40  “I  do  nothing  without  the  advice 
of  the  consultors  whom  the  Congregation  has  given  me.” 
“I  shall  send  you  the  constitution  of  [the  conference  of] 
charity  ...  ,”  he  says  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mile,  le 

43  Ibid.,  162,  No.  160.  Feb.  23.  1637. 

44  Ibid.,  290.  No.  275,  To  M.  le  Breton  at  Rome,  Feb.  26,  1640. 

Ibid.,  381,  No.  338,  To  M.  Codoing,  Supr.  at  Annecy,  Dec.  7,  1641. 

4'\Ibid.,  521,  No.  454,  To  M.  Delattre,  Supr.  at  Cahors,  April  19,  1646. 

47  Lett.,  iii..  530,  No.  M43.  To  Si.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Aug.  17,  1657. 

45  Ibid.,  6ti,  No.  1500,  To  M.  Desjardins,  Supr.  at  Toul,  Oct.  6,  t 657. 

411  Lett.,  i..  529,  No.  459,  To  SI.  Bourdet,  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  June  29, 
1646. 


30 


THE  CHARITIES 


Gras'.50  “You  will  look  at  it,  and  if  there  be  anything  to 
eliminate  or  add,  tell  me,  if  you  please.” 

Among  his  announcements  at  a  meeting  of  the  Ladies 
of  Charity,  we  find  that  he  will  “have  it  announced  from 
the  pulpit  by  the  preachers  that  those  who  have  any  good 
advice  for  this  good  work  [the  charitable  undertakings  of 
the  Ladies  at  Paris]  report  to  the  room  of  the  Daughters 
[of  Charity]  of  the  Hotel-Dieu,  Saturday  at  two  o’clock  or 
to  Mme.  de  Lamoignon  [the  president  of  the  Ladies].”51 
When  relieving  the  war-torn  provinces,  he  made  no  disposi¬ 
tion  of  alms  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  bene¬ 
factors — the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  the  queen.  He  saw  the 
necessity  of  a  wholesome  vacation  for  the  students,  but 
wished  first  to  know  the  methods  of  the  Jesuits,  Oratorians 
and  Theatines  in  this  matter.52  He  drew  up  the  plan  of  the 
exercises  for  those  to  be  ordained,  in  consultation  with  the 
“Bishops  of  Boulogne  and  Alet,  M.  l’Abbe  Olier  and  some 
other  persons.”53  In  drafting  the  rule  of  his  Congregation 
he  consulted  some  of  the  most  learned  doctors  of  Paris  and 
experienced  men  of  other  religious  orders;  he  submitted 
tentative  copies  to  ten  members  of  the  Congregation 
assembled  in  council,  all  men  of  experience  and  sound 
judgment,  that  they  might  correct,  add,  tone  down,  or 
eliminate  as  they  deemed  fit.  The  matter  was  then  referred 
to  a  committee  of  five  for  more  detailed  study  and  con¬ 
sideration  and  finally,  after  nine  years  of  further  wait¬ 
ing,  it  was  again  submitted  to  a  general  assembly  of  thirteen 
superiors  and  elders  for  final  criticism  and  adoption.54 

He  did  not  consider  it  beneath  the  dignity  of  his  office 
as  superior  general  to  confer  even  with  the  lay  brothers  of 
his  Congregation  and  take  their  advice  on  points  which 
affected  their  offices.  He  assures  us  that  he  frequently  did 
so  and  adds  that  “when  this  is  done  with  the  requisite 
precautions,  the  authority  of  God,  which  resides  in  the 

50  Ibid.,  37,  No.  24,  May  31,  1631. 

51  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Line,  de  P.  ( Suppl .),  225. 

52  Lett.,  iy.,  460.  No.  1936,  To  M.  Pesnelle,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Sept.  5,  1659. 

r’3  Az'is  et  Confer,  aux  Menibres  de  la  Congreg.,  495-6. 

54  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  P.  (Suppl.),  255-6,  258,  278-9;  Lett.,  i., 
425,  No.  368,  To  M.  Codoing  at  Rome,  Oct.  24,  1642;  Lett.,  iii.,  204-5,  No. 
1167,  To  M.  Jolly,  Oct.  29,  1655;  et  Confer,  aux  Metnbres  de  la  Con¬ 
greg.,  365. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL  ,  31 

person  of  the  superiors  and  in  those  who  represent  them, 
receives  no  detriment ;  on  the  contrary,  the  good  order  which 
results  renders  it  more  worthy  of  love  and  respect.”55 

Still  he  did  not  believe  in  endless  consultation  and 
debate.  At  the  general  assembly  convoked  in  the  summer 
of  1651  and  presided  over  by  St.  Vincent  in  person,  the  rule 
of  the  Congregation  had  long  formed  the  topic  of  discussion.' 
At  the  last  session  of  which  we  have  a  record,  the  question 
arose  whether  or  not  the  rule  should  again  be  read.  The 
minutes  tell  us56  “it  was  resolved  that  they  should  be  re-read 
by  two  or  three  only;  still  that  all  should  sign  them.  The 
reason  is  that  it  is  with  the  rules  as  with  the  hands, — the 
more  one  washes  them  the  more  one  finds  to  wash ;  or  as  the 
chickens  that  always  find  something  to  pick  in  a  place  where 
they  pass  a  hundred  times.”  In  a  previous  session  of  the 
same  meeting57  St.  Vincent  advises  curtness  and  precision 
in  the  deliberations.  “Two  or  three  reasons,”  he  says,  “go 
to  substantiate  a  thing ;  more,  obscure  it.  It  is  useful  to  con¬ 
sult  two  or  three  lawyers  on  a  question ;  if  more,  they  muddle 
it ;  the  same  with  physicians  .  .  .  Otherwise  one  loses  much 
time;  there  are  dangerous  consequences  and  evil  effects.” 

But  if  St.  Vincent  showed  humility  of  judgment  in  con¬ 
sulting  the  views  of  others,  he  showed  still  greater  humility 
in  proposing  his  own  opinion.  He  never  urged  it,  never 
tried  to  force  it  upon  others.  “Perhaps  we  shall  do  well  to 
act  so  and  so,”  “as  it  seems  to  me,”  or,  “if  you  find  it  good 
to  make  use  of  these  means,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
God  will  bless  them” — these  and  similar  terms  he  employed 
to  express  his  views,  carefully  avoiding  forceful  words  and 
whatever  might  even  insinuate  self-sufficiency  or  presump¬ 
tion  of  thought.  He  was  never  known  to  say  peremptorily, 
“I  advise  you  to  do  so  and  so.”58  This  policy  was  rooted 
ultimately,  no  doubt,  in  his  humble,  diffident  nature.  He  tells 
us59  he  acquired  it  from  Cardinal  de  Berulle  and  had  learned 
from  his  dealings  with  men  that  it  was  the  most  effective. 


Lett.,  ii.,  251,  No.  720,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan.  July  9,  1650. 
■'''Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  P.  (Sufhl.),  276,  Aug.  9,  1651. 

57  Ibid..  269-70,  July  7,  1651. 

58  Abelly,  in.,  459. 

Lett.,  iv.,  510,  No.  1984,  To  M.  Cabel,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Dec.  17,  1659. 


32 


THE  CHARITIES 


He  once  expressed  his  views  on  the  assignment  of  certain 
Daughters  of  Charity,  but  concluded  by  telling  Mile,  le  Gras 
Ho  act  as  she  deemed  fit.G0  He  had  in  vain  advised  Mazarin, 
the  prime  minister,  to  avert  the  civil  dissensions  that 
culminated  in  the  disturbances  of  the  Fronde.  Writing  of 
his  futile  attempt,  he  said :  “I  try  to  speak  them  (my 
words)  after  the  manner  of  the  good  angels  who  propose 
without  troubling  themselves  when  their  inspirations  go 
unheeded.”61  While  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Conscience 
he  spoke  his  mind  freely  and  fearlessly  when  asked  or  when 
duty  demanded,  but  then  held  his  peace  and  entrusted  the 
outcome  to  the  providence  of  God.  He  discussed  a  matter 
of  inheritance  with  a  superior  of  the  Congregation  and 
suggested  what  he  considered  the  most  advisable.  He  ended 
with  the  words:  “But  know,  sir,  I  only  propose  all  this 
...  If  you  disapprove  of  my  views  as  I  declare  them,  by  all 
means  disregard  them.”62  He  traced  the  route  which  he 
earnestly  desired  Mile,  le  Gras  to  follow  on  her  visitation 
of  the  establishments  in  the  country ;  but  left  her  the  liberty 
to  change  it  as  she  thought  fit.63 

Reproached  on  one  occasion  by  one  of  the  Ladies  of 
Charity  for  too  readily  yielding  his  own  opinions  though 
always  the  best,  he  answered  in  all  humility,  “Madame,  God 
forbid  that  my  poor  thoughts  should  prevail  over  those  of 
others !  I  am  well  pleased  when  God  acts  without  me,  who 
am  only  a  miserable  wretch.”64  After  relating  to  Mme.  de 
Chantal  the  mode  of  life  in  detail  as  led  by  the  Priests  of  the 
Mission,  he  continued :  “Do  us  the  favor,  for  the  love  of 
our  Lord,  of  giving  us  your  opinion  on  it,  if  you  please,  and 
you  can  believe  that  I  shall  receive  it  as  coming  from  God.”65 
He  had  been  forced  by  his  maladies  during  his  later  years 
to  make  his  trips  in  a  carriage.  He  expressed  his  willingness 
to  discontinue  at  the  advice  of  one  of  the  brethren.66  He 
proposed  the  pros  and  cons  for  the  holding  of  a  general 

60  Lett.,  ii 143,  No.  632. 

01  Lett.,  iv.,  2,  1579,  To  Mile,  le  Gras.  Sept.  5.  1648. 

02  Lett.,  ii.,  242,  Xo.  71 1,  To  M.  Thibaut,  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  April  12, 
1550. 

63  Lett.,  i.,  42,  No.  29,  Sept.,  1631. 

Abelly,  iii.,  284. 

05  Lett.,  i.,  257,  No.  244,  To  Mine,  de  Chantal,  July  14,  1639. 

66  Lett.,  ii.,  364,  No.  823,  To  M.  Gilles,  Supr.  at  Crecv,  Nov.  28,  1651. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


33 


meeting  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  but  left  the  decision 
entirely  to  the  plurality  of  their  votes.07  He  acted  similarly 
when  the  question  arose  whether  they  should  elect  new 
officers  or  request  the  old  ones  to  continue  in  office.GS 

Though  he  was  never  known  to  contradict  or  contest  a 
statement,  even  when  the  discussion  concerned  difficult  and 
disputed  points,  still  when  the  service  or  glory  of  God  was 
at  stake,  he  was  firm  and  unrelenting,  refusing  at  times  for 
years  to  grant  certain  things  demanded  of  him.  “As  much 
condescension  as  you  wish,  provided  God  be  not  offended” 
was  his  principle  in  this  matter.69 

St.  Vincent  not  only  practised  humility  of  judgment;  he 
also  demanded  it  in  all  its  phases  of  those  under  his  charge 
or  direction.  “0  my  brethren,”  he  said  on  one  occasion  to 
the  members  of  his  Congregation,70  “how  advantageous  for 
the  Christian  to  submit  his  intellect  and  his  reason  for  the 
love  of  God !  .  .  .  Our  Lord,  Who  was  wisdom  itself, 
did  not  follow  His  own  judgment  or  will  but  submitted  Him¬ 
self  to  His  Father.  And  you,  to  be  true  missionaries  and 
true  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  must  submit  your  judgment 
to  God,  to  our  rules,  .  .  .  and,  by  condescension,  to  all 
men.”  He  is  just  as  clear  and  emphatic  on  another  occa¬ 
sion.71  “We  must  be  very  reserved,”  he  said,  “in  never 
contradicting  anyone  for  fear  of  causing  confusion  to  our 
confreres,  inciting  quarrels  or  violating  the  truth.  Let  us 
guard  against  this,  sirs.  If  we  are  of  a  contrary  opinion  to 
that  which  is  proposed,  let  us  either  say  nothing  or  simply 
say  the  things  as  we  know  them  without  blaming  the  views 
of  others  nor  the  manner  in  which  they  announce  them.” 
“Do  not  take  it  ill,  sir,”  he  wrote  to  one  of  his  ablest  men  at 
Rome,72  “if  I  tell  you  that  I  have  always  noticed  in  both  of  us 
the  fault  of  following  too  easily  our  new  imaginings  and  of 
being  too  much  attached  to  them  at  times  ...  In  the  name 
of  God,  sir,  do  nothing  of  importance  and  especially  nothing 


67  Ibid.,  153,  No.  641,  To  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  Feb.  11,  1649. 
GS  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  P.  ( Suppl .),  202;  Ibid.,  217. 

69  Abelly,  iii.,  322. 

70  Aids  et  Confer,  aux  Mcmbres  de  la  Congrcg.,  428,  No.  104. 

71  Ibid.,  477,  No.  107. 

72  M.  Codoing,  Lett.fi.,  428,  No.  369,  Nov.  21,  1642. 


34 


THE  CHARITIES 


new  without  giving  me  your  opinion  beforehand  in  order 
that  I  might  give  you  mine.”  “It  is  so  far  from  being  wrong 
to  take  advice,”  he  writes  to  one  of  the  superiors,  “that  we 
must  do  so  when  the  affair  is  of  any  importance  or  when 
we  of  ourselves  are  unable  to  come  to  a  decision.  For  tem¬ 
poral  affairs  one  consults  a  lawyer  or  well-informed  outside 
person ;  concerning  affairs  of  the  house  one  communicates 
with  the  consultors  and  with  some  others  of  the  Company 
when  one  thinks  fit.”73 

He  instructed  Mile,  le  Gras  to  train  the  novices  in  the 
mortification  of  the'ir  judgments.74  “Always  take  advice 
one  from  another,”  he  tells  the  Daughters  of  Charity,75  “and 
if  you  believe  me  in  this  matter,  always  submit  rather  to 
the  opinion  of  your  sister  than  follow  your  own.”  He  took 
great  pleasure  in  proposing  for  the  imitation  of  the  Sisters 
the  example  of  a  counselor  who  did  nothing  without  asking 
the  advice  of  his  valet.76 

Another  determining  factor  in  the  prudent  conduct  of 
St.  Vincent  was  experience.  He  brought  his  own  past  suc¬ 
cesses  and  failures  as  well  as  those  of  others  to  bear  upon 
his  decisions  and  actions.  He  established  his  first  conference 
of  Charity  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes  on  a  provisional  rule; 
and  only  after  three  months  of  experimenting  did  he  give  it 
permanent  shape  and  seek  ecclesiastical  approbation  [See 
p.  103].  He  advised  delay  in  drawing  up  the  rules  of 
another  conference  with  the  words,  “Experience  will, 
perhaps,  prove  the  necessity  of  adding  or  toning  down.  Our 
Lord  gave  the  law  of  grace  to  men  without  writing  it;  let 
us  do  the  same  here  for  some  time.”77  It  was  only  twenty 
years  and  more  after  the  foundation  of  the  Congregation  of 
the  Mission  and  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  that  he  gave 
their  rules  their  final  form.  In  the  meantime  he  submitted 


73  Lett.,  ii.,  250,  No.  720,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  July  9,  1650;  cf. 
also  Lett.,  iv.,  30,  No.  1607,  To  M.  Durand,  Supr.  at  Agde,  Mar.  1,  1657; 
Lett.,  i.,  446,  No.  3S3,  To  M.  Guerin,  Supr.  at  Annecy,  Feb.  12,  1643;  Ibid., 
521,  No.  454,  To  M.  Delattre,  Supr.  at  Cahors,  April  19,  1646. 

74  Lett.,  i.,  142,  No.  141,  To  Mile,  le  Gras. 

75  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  P.  (Suppl.),  308,  No.  3,  June  19,  1647. 

76  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  461,  No.  39,  Aug.  7,  1650. 

77  Lett.,  i.,  104,  No.  97,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  1635. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


35 


them  to  the  rigid  test  of  experience,  modifying,  adding, 
eliminating,  as  he  saw-advisable  or  necessary. 

The  lay  administrators  of  the  hospital  for  galley  slaves 
at  Marseilles  were  impatiently  waiting  for  the  rules  of  the 
institution  to  be  drafted.  St.  Vincent  wrote  on  this  point 
to  the  priest  in  charge:  “When  they  speak  to  you  again 
concerning  the  rules  of  the  hospital,  tell  them,  if  you  please, 
that  it  is  a  good  maxim  of  those  whom  God  employs  for  new 
and  holy  undertakings,  to  defer  as  long  as  they  can  the 
regulations  which  they  make,  for  experience  shows  that 
that  which  is  possible  in  the  beginning  is  often  detrimental 
as  things  progress,  or  subject  to  exasperating  inconven¬ 
iences;  that  for  this  reason  some  communities,  as  the 
Carthusians,  have  waited  a  hundred  years  before  drawing 
up  their  constitutions..  St.  Ignatius  made  only  a  scanty 
sketch  of  his,  but  the  Society  has  since  put  them  in  their 
present  shape  according  to  the  lights  which  time  has  dis¬ 
covered  to  them.  Msgr.  de  Geneva  [St.  Francis  de  Sales], 
because  too  hasty  in  drafting  the  rules  for  the  Daughters  of 
Sainte-Marie,  has  been  obliged  to  compile  a  directory.”78 

Experience,  he  tells  us,79  taught  him  the  absolute  neces¬ 
sity  of  the  women  of  a  conference  not  being  dependent  on 
the  men  especially  as  regards  the  money.  He  urged  Mile, 
le  Gras  to  induce  the  members  of  one  of  the  first  conferences 
established  to  conform  their  regulations  and  practices  to 
those  organized  later. so  He  learned  from  experience  certain 
precautions  to  be  taken  when  uniting  other  religious  com¬ 
munities  with  his  own.81  He  observed  the  advantages  of 
having  a  parish  church  connected  with  the  seminary  for  the 
complete  training  of  the  seminarians  in  practice  as  well  as 
in  theory.82  He  learned  from  the  Carthusians  the  necessity 
and  advantages  of  holding  an  annual  visitation  of  his 
establishments.83 

*8  Lett.,  ii.,  12,  No.  532,  To  M.  Portail,  Priest  of  the  Mission  at  Mar¬ 
seilles,  Feb.  14,  1647. 

79  Lett.,  i.,  153,  No.  151,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Oct.  31,  1636. 

80  Ibid.,  154,  No.  152,  To  Mile,  le  Gras. 

81  Lett.,  iii.,  468,  No.  1391,  To  M.  Levazeux,  Supr.  at  Annecy,  June  t,  1657. 

82  Lett.,  iv.,  143,  No.  1695,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Sept.  6,  1658. 

83  Lett.,  i.,  317,  No.  292,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Toni.  June  17,  1640;  Ibid., 
538,  No.  4 66,  To  M.  Bourdet,  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  July  23,  1646. 


36 


THE  CHARITIES 


He  did  not  hesitate  to  make  experiments  in  new  methods 
and  unexplored  fields  if  occasion  demanded.  In  fact,  nearly 
all  his  works  began  as  experiments.  Before  formulating  a 
definite  plan  for  the  care  of  the  foundlings,  he  wished  that 
some  time  be  spent  in  testing  various  methods ;  and  even  for 
a  number  of  years  the  work  was  undertaken  only  by  way 
of  trial.  [See  pp.  199-211.]  In  discussing  the  erection  of 
the  Hopital  General ,  planned  at  that  time,  he  wanted  to  take 
only  .one  or  two  hundred  poor  who  would  apply  voluntarily 
for  admission  until  a  trial  had  been  made.  [See  pp.  271-2.] 
His-  attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that  his  young  priests 
were  not  being  assigned  to  missionary  activities.  He  was 
willing  to  give  them  a  trial  and  immediately  made  a  number 
of  appointments.84  He  was  willing  to  test  the  expediency  of 
admitting  young  boys  into  the  seminary  in  preparation  for 
the  priesthood.8'’  “If  you  think  Henrietta  knows  how  to 
teach  school,  very  well.  Give  her  a  trial,”  are  his  instruc¬ 
tions  to  Mile,  le  Gras. 8(5 

To  prudence  St.  Vincent  united  a  deep  and  thorough 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  the  ways  of  the  world. 
His  own  holiness  and  sanctity  of  life  had  not,  as  it  were, 
transported  him  to  another  and  superior  world.  He  lived 
among  men  and  he  dealt  with  them,  taking  human  nature 
as  it  is.  Though  a  saint  himself,  he  was  not  overexacting  in 
expecting  perfection  of  others.  Not  that  he  connived  in  any 
way  at  faults  and  shortcomings,  but  he  was  not  surprised 
when  he  found  them.  “Is  not  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth 
composed  of  the  good  and  the  bad?”  he  asked  his  brothers 
in  religion. S7  “Does  not  a  net  take  in  all  kinds  of  fishes?” 
Speaking  at  another  time  on  the  necessity  of  bearing  with 
the  faults  and  failings  of  others,  he  asked :  “Where  does 
one  find  men  who  are  perfect  and  without  fault  and  in 
regard  to  whom  there  is  nothing  to  bear  with?  Can  you 
find  such  a  one  for  me?”ss  A  superior  once  complained  to 

84  Lett.,  ii.,  293,  No.  756.  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Dec.  2,  1650. 

85  Lett.,  i.,  603,  No.  515,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Dec.  23. 
1646;  Lett.,  iii.,  249,  No.  1207,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Mar.  3,  1656. 

86  Lett.,  i.,  183,  No.  180,  1637. 

87  Abelly,  ii.,  360. 

88  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  dc  la  Congreg.,  283,  No.  86. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


37 


him  of  the  faults  of  one  of  the  brethren.  “You  must  bear 
with  him  meekly,”  was  Vincent’s  reply.89  “If  he  had  not 
these  faults  he  would  have  others.” 

There  were  some  who  did  not  make  the  proper  use  of 
the  spiritual  retreats  conducted  at  Saint-Lazare.  Vincent 
expressed  no  surprise  at  this.  On  the  contrary,  his  only 
comment  was  that  “there  is  not  a  work  of  piety  which  some 
do  not  abuse,  nothing  so  holy  of  which  they  do  not  make  a 
bad  use.  But  for  this  one  ought  not  discontinue  doing  good, 
and  we  shall  not  be  excusable  before  God  if  we  become  lax  or 
cold  in  these  exercises  of  charity  because  all  those  whom 
we  assist  do  not  derive  all  the  fruit  that  we  could  desire.”90 
Among  the  regulations  for  his  army  chaplains  we  find  that 
“they  will  bear  in  mind  that  though  they  cannot  remove  all 
the  sins  of  the  army,  God  will  perhaps  give  them  the  grace 
to  diminish  their  number.”91 

We  find  innumerable  instances  of  his  practical  psychol¬ 
ogy  in  his  dealings  with  men.  He  did  not  unite  the  religious 
of  Saint-Lazare  with  his  own  when  he  took  up  his  residence 
there,  knowing  that  the  example  of  the  former  would  cool 
the  fervor  and  check  the  zeal  of  his  newly  organized  com¬ 
munity.  He  began  the  spiritual  exercises  for  those  about 
to  receive  ordinations  and  fostered  the  establishment  of 
seminaries  because  convinced  of  the  futility  of  trying  to 
effect  a  far-reaching  reform  among  the  older  clergy.  Saying 
that  newly  appointed  superiors  are  inclined  to  make  changes 
to  suit  their  own  ideas,  he  exhorted  one  not  to  do  it.92  He 
urged  that  great  caution  be  taken  to  avoid  whatever  might 
be  interpreted  as  an  encroachment  on  another’s  authority 
since  all  officials  are  jealous  of  their  authority.93  He  saw  the 
necessity  of  the  vow  of  stability  “to  remedy  the  natural 
inconstancy  of  man  and  to  prevent  the  dissolution  of  the 
Congregation.”  “Otherwise,”  he  added,  “many  will  enter 
it  only  to  study  and  to  render  themselves  capable  of  public 
functions,  and  then  depart.”94 

so  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  15,  No.  2094. 

90  Abelly,  ii.,  361. 

91  Abelly,  i.,  231. 

92  Lett.,  ii.,  227,  No.  700,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Feb.  23.  1650. 

93  Ibid.,  230,  No.  703,  To  M.  Lambert.  Mar.,  1650. 

94  Ibid.,  305,  No.  765,  To  M.  Almeras,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Jan.  3,  1651. 


38 


THE  CHARITIES 


Warning  his  Daughters  of  Charity  against  becoming  too 
attached  to  any  one  place  or  position,  he  described  how  such 
a  Sister,  for  fear  of  being  changed,  would  try  to  gain  the 
favor  of  her  companion  by  allowing  her  privileges  and  per¬ 
mitting  laxities;  the  companion  would  then  report  that  all 
was  well  in  the  house  and  thus  the  superioress  would  see  no 
reason  for  a  change.95  He  was  told  that  two  of  his  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity  could  not  agree.  He  advises  the  practical 
solution  of  keeping  them  separated  by  giving  them  different 
employments.90  He  doubted  the  sincerity  of  a  postulant, 
thinking  he  might  have  been  induced  to  come  to  Paris  out 
of  consideration  for  his  brother,  or,  perhaps  attracted  by  the 
desire  of  seeing  the  sights  of  the  city.97  While  acknowledging 
the  utility  of  having  a  horse,  he  refused  to  allow  the  different 
houses  to  possess  one  on  the  plea  that  the  brethren  would 
go  visiting  too  much  and  waste  too  much  time  in  external 
affairs.08  He  cautioned  his  missionaries  against  acquiring 
a  reputation.  Among  other  things,  he  said  the  people  hear¬ 
ing  of  their  ability  would  form  an  exaggerated  opinion  of 
them  in  advance  and  would  then  be  disappointed  in  them 
when  they  arrived,  to  the  detriment  of  the  mission  they 
came  to  give.99 

He  knew  man’s  natural  love  for  change  and  novelty,  and 
hence  did  not  transfer  the  brethren  from  house  to  house 
except  for  substantial  reasons.  Some  requested  removal 
under  the  pretext  of  ill  health  asking  for  a  change  of 
climate  and  employment ;  some  could  not  agree  with 
their  companions  and  hoped  to  succeed  better  elsewhere; 
some  superiors  were  dissatisfied  with  their  men  and 
desired  others  in  their  places.  St.  Vincent  was  quick 
to  distinguish  between  reason  and  pretext.  He  asked 
some  to  wait  a  while.;  others  he  encouraged  to  have  patience ; 
again  he  excused  himself  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  filling 
their  places  and  told  them  he  would  see  in  the  course  of 

95  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  641,  No.  107,  Dec.  14,  1659. 

96  Lett.,  iv.,  244,  No.  176S,  To  M.  Desdames,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Dec.  13, 
1658.  '  . 

97  Ibid.,  1 19,  To  M.  Laudin,  Supr.  at  le  Mans,  Aug.  .4,  1658. 

9S  Lett.,  iii.,  206,  No.  1168,  To  M.  Cruoly,  Supr.  at  le  Mans,  Oct.  29,  1655. 

99  Ibid.,  217.  No.  1178,  To  M.  Martin,  Priest  of  the  Mission  at  Turin, 
Dec.  10,  1655;  Ibid.,  220,  No.  1182,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Dec.  17, 

1655- 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


39 


time.  He  hoped,  and  not  without  reason,  that,  with  the 
passing  of  time,  the  complainants  would  change  their 
minds.100 

St.  Vincent  gave  further  evidence  of  his  prudence  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature  as  well  as  of  his  practical  busi¬ 
ness  mind  in  the  making  of  contracts.  He  was  very  careful 
in  exacting  a  deed  of  transfer  whenever  he  acquired  new 
property  by  donation  or  purchase.  We  read,  for  example,  in 
one  of  his  letters  regarding  the  donation  of  the  priory  of 
Saint-Nicolas-de-Chanuan  in  the  diocese  of  Poitiers  to  the 
Priests  of  the  Mission :  “It  is  necessary  that  you  have  a 
deposition  of  it  made  before  a  notary  and  a  document  to  put 
in  the  hands  of  N.  N.,  and  a  copy  of  the  renunciation  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  agreement  they  have  with  the  abbots  and  religious 
of  Notre-Dame-des-Noyers,  on  whom  said  priory  is  depen¬ 
dent.  .  .  .  This  resignation  you  will  send  in  haste,  if  you 
please,  to  M.  d’Horgny  [the  superior  of  the  house  at  Rome] 
in  order  that  on  it  and  on  the  copy  of  the  said  agreement, 
which  I  must  send  to  him,  he  will  obtain  the  brief  of  the  said 
union.”101  “You  will  send  me  the  contract  [of  the  purchase 
of  a  house]  signed  and  sealed  in  good  form,”  he  wrote  to  one 
of  the  brethren.102 

When  he  accepted  complete  or  partial  charge  of  an 
institution,  he  first  entered  upon  an  express  agreement  with 
the  respective  administrators  or  officials  determining  the 
exact  scope  of  the  offices  and  obligations  of  the  position. 
Such  an  agreement  he  made,  for  example,  with  the  admin¬ 
istrators  of  the  hospital  at  Marseilles  when  his  priests  were 
placed  there.103  When  the  administrators  of  this  hospital 
demanded  that  the  Company  maintain  two  priests  in  the 
institution,  St.  Vincent  wrote  that  he  could  not  be  obliged 
to  do  so  since  the  letters  of  foundation  did  not  determine 
it.11’4  He  reminded  the  chaplain  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  le  Mans 
that  he  could  not  justly  make  demands  on  the  Company 


100Abelly,  iii.,  489;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Mcmbres  dc  la  Congreg.,  28c. 
No.  85,  June  28,  1658. 

101  Lett.,  i.,  608,  No.  518,  To  M.  Blat-iron  at  Genoa,  Dec.  28,  1646.  Cf. 
also  Lett.,  iii.,  31,  No.  1029,  To  M.  Chiroye  at  Lugon,  Mar.  8,  1654. 

102  Lett.,  i.,  293,  No.  275,  To  M.  le  Breton  at  Rome,  Feb.  26,  1640. 

103  Lett.,  ii.,  84,  No.  592,  To  M.  Portail  at  Marseilles,  May  8,  1648. 

104  Ibid.,  12,  No.  532,  To  M.  Portail  at  Marseilles,  Feb.  14,  1647. 


40 


THE  CHARITIES 


which  were  not  stipulated  in  the  contract  of  foundation.105 

To  attain  his  purpose  the  more  surely  or  without  causing 
hard  feelings,  St.  Vincent  had  recourse  at  times  to  what  we. 
might  call  diplomacy.  He  wrote  on  one  occasion  to  a 
superior  concerning  some  brethren  who  were  insistent  on 
asking  certain  permissions.  He  says :  “Should  anyone  urge 
you  too  much  .  .  .  ,  request  him  to  have  patience  and  tell 
him  that,  not  being  able  to  grant  the  permission  he  asks, 
you  will  write  to  the  general  of  the  Congregation  [i.  e.,  to 
St.  Vincent  himself]  about  it,  and  in  reality  you  will  do  so. 
And  thus,  while  awaiting  the  answer,  the  time  glides  by  and 
the  temptation  frequently  vanishes.  Thereupon  I  shall  write 
to  these  persons  and  beg  them  to  desist  from  their  singu¬ 
larities  and  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  common  practices. ”10G 
The  superior  of  one  of  the  houses  had  lost  his  first  enthus¬ 
iasm  and  had  in  consequence  become  somewhat  careless  on 
a  number  of  points.  St.  Vincent  asked  him  by  letter107  to 
give  his  advice  on  the  manner  of  correcting  a  superior  guilty 
of  certain  faults,  mentioning  the  very  faults  of  which  the 
superior  to  whom  he  was  writing  had  made  himself  guilty. 
A  tax  had  been  imposed  on  some  of  the  chapels  of  the  Con¬ 
gregation  by  the  Bishop  of  le  Mans.  St.  Vincent  considered 
it  excessive  and  unjust,  but  urged  its  payment  until  repealed 
by  peaceful  methods.  He  adds,108  however :  “Perhaps  it 
will  require  but  a  good  mission,  with  which  the  Bishop  will 
be  well  pleased,  to  gain  his  good  will  towards  you  and,  by 
his  favor,  to  release  you  from  the  excessive  tax.”  The 
superior  at  Sedan  informed  St.  Vincent  of  a  worthy  cause 
there  in  need  of  financial  aid.  Vincent  instructed  him  to 
write  a  letter  and  told  him  what  circumstances  and  condi¬ 
tions  to  mention,  in  fact,  almost  dictating  to  him  what  he 
should  say  and  how  he  should  say  it.  This  letter,  then,  St. 
Vincent  was  to  read  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  solicit 
their  aid.100 

105  Ibid.,  335,  No.  79 2,  May  7,  1651. 

106  Lett.,  ii.,  282,  No.  746,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Oct.  14,  1650. 

107  Ibid.,  557,  No.  969,  July  19,  1653. 

108  Ibid.,  216,  No.  692,  To  M.  Gentil,  Priest  of  the  Mission  at  le  Mans, 
Feb.  9,  1650. 

109  Lett.,  iii.,  194,  No.  1156,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Oct.  6,  1655. 
Cf.  also  Ibid.,  588,  No.  i486,  To  Jean  Parre,  Bro.  of  the  Mission  at  Saint- 
Quentin,  Sept.  22,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


41 


We  must  not  infer  from  this,  however,  that  Vincent  de 
Paul  was  insincere  in  character  or  intriguing  in  his  dealings 
with  men.  On  the  contrary,  simplicity,  according  to  his  own 
humble  confession,110  was  his  favorite  virtue;  its  practice 
he'  calls  his  Gospel.* 111  It  struck  his  contemporaries  with 
admiration  and  won  for  him  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  thus  contributing  in  no 
small  measure  to  the  success  of  his  immense  undertakings. 
It  was  all  the  more  admirable  and  wonderful  since  he 
fostered  and  practised  it  in  his  relations  with  a  corrupt  and 
intriguing  world  and  amid  the  hypocrisy,  deception,  and. 
duplicity  of  the  royal  court.  The  multitude  and  diversity 
of  his  affairs  caused  him  at  times  to  forget  little  things,  such 
as  to  answer  a  letter  promptly,  to  keep  an  engagement,  and 
the  like.  His  sincerity  prompted  him  frankly  to  acknow¬ 
ledge  his  forgetfulness  rather  than  shield  himself  with  some 
excuse  or  artifice.  The  obtaining  of  the  papal  approbation 
for  his  Congregation  was  certainly  one  of  the  great  desires 
of  his  heart.  Yet  he  would  have  sacrificed  it  rather  than 
obtain  it  by  intrigue.112  A  bishop  wanted  a  priest  of  the 
Congregation  for  one  of  his  parishes.  For  some  reason  the 
request  could  not  be  granted.  It  was  suggested  to  St.  Vin¬ 
cent,  however,  that  a  certain  secular  priest  be  allowed  to 
pass  as  one  of  the  Company  and  take  possession  of  the 
parish.  Vincent  absolutely  refused  and  characterized  such 
a  deed  as  “a  grave  fault  contrary  to  the  simplicity  we 
profess  and  a  disguisement  very  foreign  to  the  usage  of  the 
first  Christians  of  whom  Pliny  the  Younger  relates  that 
they  were  accustomed  to  do  nothing  by  stealth  nor  to 
equivocate.”113 

He  practiced  simplicity  with  all  the  fervor  of  his  soul 
and  rigorously  stigmatized  the  contrary  vice.  “To  appear 
good  externally,”  he  once  said,  “and  to  be  far  otherwise 
internally  is  to  act  as  did  the  hypocritical  Pharisees.  It  is 
to  imitate  the  devil,  who  transforms  himself  into  an  angel 
of  light.”  It  was  one  of  his  maxims  that  “as  prudence  of  the 

110  Lett.,  i.,  93,  No.  85,  To  M.  Coudray  at  Rome,  Nov.  6,  1634. 

111  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  534,  No.  45.  Feb.  24,  1653. 

112  Lett.,  ii.,  430,  No.  872,  June,  1652;  Ibid.,  435,  No.  877,  To  M.  d’Horgny, 
Supr.  at  Rome,  June  13,  1648. 

113  Lett.,  iii.,  209,  No.  1172,  To  M.  Chiroye,  Supr.  at  Logon,  Nov.  14,  1655. 


42 


THE  CHARITIES 


flesh  and  hypocrisy  especially  reign  in  this  corrupt  age  to 
the  great  detriment  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  we  cannot 
better  combat  and  overcome  them  than  by  a  true  and  sincere 
simplicity.”114  The  Daughters  of  Charity  he  urged115  to 
imitate  the  simple  candor  of  the  girls  of  the  villages,  “who 
use  neither  artifice  nor  double-meaning  words,”  but  are 
truthful  and  honest  in  word  and  deed. 

But  it  was,  above  all,  in  preaching  the  word  of  God  that 
St.  Vincent  demanded  the  utmost  simplicity.  He  inaug¬ 
urated  and  fostered  by  word  and  example  the  movement  that 
threw  aside_the  florid,  bombastic  style  of  the  Renaissance  and 
returned  to  the  simple,  intelligible,  unadulterated  exposition 
of  Catholic  doctrine. 

His  work  brought  him  in  contact  with  all  classes  of 
society,  the  highest  as  well  as  the  lowest.  But  he  was  ever 
simple,  humble,  unassuming  in  language,  dress  and  deport¬ 
ment,  spurning  proffered  dignities  and  honors  for  himself 
and  his  community,  indifferent  to  success  and  deaf  to  popu¬ 
lar  applause.  “Monsieur  Vincent  was,”  as  a  virtuous 
ecclesiastic  once  characterized  him,  “always  Monsieur 
Vincent.”116 

We  have  already  had  occasion  several  times  to  hint  at 
St.  Vincent’s  characteristic  slowness.  We  have  remarked 
his  reluctance  to  enter  upon  new  enterprises;  his  policy  of 
waiting,  observing,  experimenting  in  drafting  his  different 
rules  and  constitutions ;  his  indecision  until  he  had 
acquainted  himself  with  all  the  circumstances  and  until  he 
had  weighed,  as  he  used  to  say,  “the  nature,  the  means,  and 
the  end,”  in  all  things.  This  trait  sprang  from  his  humility 
and  diffidence,  from  his  fear  of  anticipating  or  even  frus¬ 
trating  the  plans  of  divine  providence  and  also  from  expe¬ 
rience  which  had  proven  to  him  its  expediency. 

His  confreres,  especially  the  younger,  grew  impatient 
at  times  with  this  procrastinating  policy  and  voiced  their 
complaints  to  their  holy  founder.  Let  us  hear  his  own 
admirable  justification  culled  from  one  of  his  letters.117 


114  Abelly,  ill.,  332. 

115  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  77,  No.  10,  Jan.  25,  1643. 

116  Abelly,  iii.,  423. 

117  M.  Codoing,  Supr.  at  Annecy,  Lett.,  i.,  381,  No.  338,  Dec.  7,  1641. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


43 


“You  will  object,”  he  writes,  “that  I  am  too  slow,  that  you 
wait  sometimes  six  months  for  an  answer  that  could  be 
given  in  one,  and  that  in  the  meantime  the  opportunities  are 
lost  and  everything  is  at  a  standstill.  I  answer  to  this,  sir, 
that  it  is  true  I  am  too  slow  in  answering  and  in  doing  things, 
but  nevertheless,  I  have  never  yet  seen  an  affair  hurt  by  my 
delay.  On  the  contrary  everything  has  been  done  in  its  good 
time  with  the  necessary  foresight  and  precautions.  Still  I 
resolve,  for  the  future,  to  give  you  an  answer  as  soon  as 
possible  after  receiving  your  letters  and  considering  the 
matter  before  God,  Who  is  greatly  honored  by  the  time  we 
consume  in  considering  maturely  the  things  that  concern 
His  service.  .  .  .  You  will,  then,  correct  yourself,  if  you 
please,  of  the  hastiness  in  resolving  and  acting,  and  I  shall 
strive  to  correct  my  remissness.”  “Reviewing  all  the  prin¬ 
cipal  things  that  have  been  done  in  this  Company,”  he 
continues  in  the  same  letter,  “it  seems  to  me  (and  it  is  easily 
demonstrated)  that,  had  they  been  done  before  they  were, 
they  would  not  have  been  done  so  well.  I  say  this  without 
excepting  a  single  one.  This  is  why  I  have  a  special  devotion 
to  follow,  step  by  step,  the  adorable  providence  of  God ;  and 
the  sole  consolation  I  have  is  that  it  seems  to  me  it  is  our 
Lord  alone  Who  has  done,  and  continues  to  do,  the  things  of 
this  little  Company.” 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  superior,118  we  again  find 
him  counseling  protracted  consideration  before  acting. 
“And  I  beseech  you,”  he  adds,  “in  the  name  of  our  Lord  to 
have  confidence  that  the  things  of  God  ordinarily  ought  not 
to  perish  for  taking  more  time  in  considering  them  and  for 
recommending  them  to  Him.  Quite  the  contrary,  every¬ 
thing  does  not  but  go  the  better  because  of  it.”  He  checked 
the  ardor  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  who  wished  to  rush  the 
founding  of  the  Hopital  General,  with  the  striking  but  truly 
characteristic  words :  “When  God  wished  to  save  Noe  and 
his  family  from  the  deluge,  He  commanded  him  to  build  an 
ark,  which  could  have  been  completed  within  a  short  time ; 
and  still  He  had  him  begin  a  hundred  years  before  in  order 
that  he  might  build  it  little  by  little.  In  like  manner,  God 


11S  Ibid.,  39L  No.  345.  Jan.  31,  1642. 


44 


THE  CHARITIES 


wishing  to  lead  the  children  of  Israel  into  the  Promised 
Land  could  have  had  them  make  the  journey  in  a  few  days; 
and,  nevertheless,  more  than  forty  years  passed  before  He 
gave  them  the  grace  to  enter.”  He  adduces  several  other 
similar  examples  “teaching  us  not  to  advance  too  much  in  the 
things  that  depend  more  on  God  than  on  us.”  “What,  then, 
must  we  do?”  he  concludes:  “We  must  proceed  gently,  pray 
much  to  God  and  act  in  concert.”119 

We  may  cite  one  further  typical  example  from  among  the 
many  on  hand.  St.  Vincent  was  once  approached  to  use  his 
influence  in  favor  of  a  young  lawyer  who  wished  to  be 
employed  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  a  noble 
family.  He  replied :  “We  shall  think  it  over,  but  before 
doing  anything  we  shall  observe  silence  on  this  matter  for  a 
whole  month  to  listen  to  God  and  to  honor  the  silence  which 
our  Lord  so  often  observed  on  earth.”  After  deferring  the 
affair  for  four  or  five  months  he  saw  to  it  that  the  young 
man  procured  his  position.120  “I  see  nothing  more  common,” 
he  once  wrote  to  Mile,  le  Gras,121  “than  the  failure  of  things 
hastily  undertaken.” 

As  fairly  illustrative  of  his  fear  of  anticipating  the  plans 
of  God,  we  may  quote  from  one  of  his  letters  to  a  person 
of  piety.122  “How  greatly  do  those  honor  our  Lord  who 
follow  it  [His  providence]  and  do  not  encroach  upon  it!  I 
heard  it  said  recently  about  one  of  the  great  ones  of  the 
realm  that  he  had  learned  this  truth  from  his  own  experi¬ 
ence,  for  he  had  never  undertaken  but  four  things  on  his 
own  initiative ;  and  these,  instead  of  succeeding  for  him, 
were  turned  to  his  own  ruin.  Is  it  not  true  that  you  do  not 
wish,  as  is  very  reasonable,  your  servant  to  undertake  any¬ 
thing  without  you  and  your  order?  And  if  this  is  reasonable 
among  men,  how  much  more  so  between  the  Creator  and  the 
creature?” 

While  we  note  several  avowals123  on  the  part  of  St. 
Vincent  of  having  acted  too  hastily  in  spite  of  his  customary 

119Abelly,  i.,  312-3. 

120  Abelly,  iii.,  345. 

121  Lett.,  i.,  168,  No.  163,  an.  1637. 

122  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  20,  No.  3001,  an.  1637. 

123  V.g.,  Lett.,  iv.,  367,  No.  1859,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Montpellier,  June 
13,  1659;  Ibid.,  384,  No.  1871,  To  M.  Get,  June  27,  1659. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


45 


care,  there  are  no  instances  on  record  of  his  having  ever 
regretted  his  policy  of  waiting.  He  adhered  to  it  consis¬ 
tently  from  the  beginning  of  his  career  of  charity  to  the  end 
of  his  life. 

But  once  assured  of  the  Will  of  God,  of  the  righteousness 
and  feasibility  of  a  course  of  action,  he  no  longer  wavered, 
but  set  to  work  with  an  intrepidity,  tenacity  and  clearness 
of  purpose  that  no  difficulty,  no  obstacle  could  weaken.  He 
applied  himself  with  a  sagacious  and  orderly  prudence ;  he 
sustained  the  burdens,  the  troubles,  the  delays  with  a  cour¬ 
age,  constancy,  and  perseverance  born  of  his  unbounded 
trust  in  God  and  of  the  consequent  assurance  of  God’s  bless¬ 
ing,  the  cooperation  of  well-meaning  men,  and  ultimate 
success. 

He  gives  us  a  clear  expression  of  his  own  mind  in  this 
regard  in  one  of  his  letters.124  “It  is  the  maxim  of  the 
Saints,”  he  writes,  “that  when  a  thing  has  been  decided 
before  God  after  many  prayers  and  consultations,  we  must 
reject  and  consider  as  temptations  whatever  is  proposed  to 
the  contrary.”  After  obtaining  ecclesiastical  approbation 
for  his  Congregation  and  experiencing  the  singular  blessings 
of  God  and  the  favor  of  men  in  its  behalf,  he  was  urged  by 
an  ecclesiastic  to  divert  its  primary  purpose  of  holding  mis¬ 
sions  to  the  care  and  direction  of  seminaries.  Apropos  to 
this  proposal  he  writes  in  the  same  letter :  “It  seems  to  me 
it  would  almost  require  an  angel  from  heaven  to  persuade 
us  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  we  abandon  this  work  to  under¬ 
take  another  which  has  already  been  tried  and  has  not 
succeeded  in  many  districts.”  “The  difficulties  which  are 
raised  among  us  concerning  the  vows,”  he  said  in  a  general 
assembly,125  “will  cease  with  time  because  we  have  taken 
this  resolution  with  counsel  and  after  long  deliberations.” 

We  have  seen  that  St.  Vincent  was  very  deliberate  in 
his  actions  and  opposed  to  thoughtless  precipitation.  We 
must  not,  however,  mistake  this  quality  for  inertness  or 
sluggishness.  Nothing  would  be  further  from  the  truth. 
Vincent  de  Paul  was  possessed  with  a  passion  for  work  and 

124  Lett.,  i..  396,  No.  347.  To  M.  Codoing  at  Annecy,  Feb.  9.  1642. 

\  125  Minutes  of  July  1,  1651,  Lett,  ct  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.), 

263;  cf.  also  Abelly,  ii i 458. 


46 


THE  CHARITIES 


was  a  miser  of  time.  “Life  is  too  short  as  it  is,”  he  writes 
to  one  of  the  brethren,126  and  admonishes  him  not  to  steal 
from  the  little  time  we  have  by  oversleeping  in  the  mornings. 
He  himself  would  remain  at  his  work  until  a  late  hour  of  • 
the  night  and  still  always  rise  at  four  o’clock.  He  once  com¬ 
plained  to  Mile,  le  Gras127  of  the  lack  of  time  and  wished 
that  God  could  grant  him  more.  In  writing  to  a  confrere  at 
Annecy,128  he  urged  him  to  continue  “to  work  in  earnest, 
temples  enim  breve  est  et  grandis  nobis  restat  via”  [for 
time  is  short  and  a  great  part  of  the  way  still  lies  before  us] . 
In  another  letter  to  one  of  his  brethren  he  complained  of  time 
lost  in  deciphering  his  badly  written  communications  and 
admonished  him  to  improve  his  handwriting.129 

One  of  the  greatest  marvels  of  his  wonderful  life  was 
the  manner  in  which  he  regulated  and  occupied  his  time. 
He  never  gave  a  moment  to  idleness.  He  never  paid  visits 
but  when  the  necessity  of  business  or  the  obligations  of 
gratitude  or  charity  demanded  it.  He  filled  the  office  of 
superior  general  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission  and  of 
the  Daughters  of  Charity  until  his  death.  He  had  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  several  other  religious  communities  and  of  many 
charitable  organizations.  He  had  a  wide  correspondence 
and  received  callers  daily  who  sought  his  advice  and  direc¬ 
tion.  It  was  with  all  this  in  mind  that  Mile,  de  Lamoignon 
remarked  one  day  that  St.  Vincent  had  done  more  good 
works  than  any  twenty  other  Saints. 

As  we  have  already  seen  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was  well 
fitted  for  his  work  by  grace  and  by  nature.  His  own  experi¬ 
ences,  too,  stood  him  in  good  stead.  He  had  lived  through 
the  poverty  and  religious  indifference  of  the  people  of  the 
country  districts  during  his  youth.  He  had  come  in  direct 
contact  with  the  sufferings  and  misery  and  moral  dangers 
of  a  Christian  slave  in  the  Barbary  States  during  his  own 
period  of  captivity.  He  had  gained  some  knowledge  of 
medicine,  when  a  captive,  from  his  second  master,  an  alchem¬ 
ist,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  acquainting  himself  with  the 


126  Lett.,  ii.,  208,  No.  688,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Jan.  15,  1650. 

127  Lett.,  i.,  160,  No.  158,  an.  1637. 

128  Ibid.,  325,  No.  298,  To  M.  Escart,  July  25,  1640. 

J?9  Lett.,  ii.,  490,  No.  913,  To  M.  Lambert  in  Poland,  Oct.  10,  1652. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


47 


current  methods  of  nursing  while  serving  the  patients 
of  the  Hospital  of  Charity  after  his  return  from  Rome. 
The  assistance  he  solicited  and  obtained  from  persons  in 
Paris  for  the  erection  of  his  little  parish  church  at  Clichy, 
assured  him  of  the  good  results  that  could  be  expected  by 
appealing  to  outside  help.  The  success  of  his  first  conference 
of  charity,  established  while  pastor  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes 
in  1617,  had  revealed  to  him  the  possibilities  of  organized, 
concerted  action  in  the  field  of  active  charities.  His  position 
as  almoner  to  Queen  Marguerite  and  as  tutor  in  the  house 
of  Gondi  had  given  him  moral  prestige  and  gained  for  him 
the  acquaintance  and  sympathy  of  persons  whose  aid  was 
invaluable  to  him  in  later  years.  His  two  years’  sojourn 
with  the  Fathers  of  the  Oratory  had  brought  him  in  touch 
with  the  religious  movement  for  Catholic  reform  that  was 
inaugurated  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Wherein  lay  the  secret  of  St.  Vincent’s  power  and 
influence  over  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men?  Certainly  not 
in  his  prepossessing  exterior.  It  was  his  earnestness,  his 
meekness  and  humility,  but  above  all  his  utter  disinterested¬ 
ness  and  universal  charity.  The  circumstances  of  the  times, 
too,  undoubtedly  reenforced  his  appeal.  The  richer  classes, 
money-loving  and  pleasure-seeking  though  they  were,  could 
not  but  be  affected  with  pity  and  inspired  with  a  latent 
desire  to  help  at  the  sight  of  so  much  misery  and  distress. 
They  only  awaited  the  advent  of  one  to  make  a  direct  appeal 
to  them  and  to  assure  them  that  their  charity  would  not  be 
abused  but  would  be  turned  to  the  best  advantage.  And  this 
man  was  St.  Vincent  de  Paul. 


SECTION  I 


The  General  Sociological  and  Politico-Economic  Ideas 

of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul 

The  providence  of- God  and  the  force  of  circumstances, 
rather  than  studied  forethought  and  premeditated  choice, 
led  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  to  consecrate  his  life  to  the  service  of 
his  fellowmen.  These  same  factors  directed  his  course  into 
the  many  phases  of  his  activity  which,  taken  collectively, 
resulted  in  a  constructive  social  programme  of  an  extent, 
thoroughness,  and  practicality  St.  Vincent  had  never  dreamt 
of  inaugurating.  He  entered  the  field  of  social  activities 
without  preconceived  ideas.  He  had  no  scholarly  knowledge 
of  the  complex  structure  of  human  society,  of  social  forces 
and  social  processes;  no  subtle  social  philosophy,  no  great 
social  vision,  no  elaborate  plans  or  theories  of  social  relief 
and  social  reform. 

He  was  preeminently  a  man  of  action  and  of  practical 
results.  He  saw  the  concrete  problem  before  him ;  he  calcu¬ 
lated  the  possibilities  of  the  relief  resources  at  his  command 
and  applied  them  to  the  individual  case  guided  only  by  the 
dictates  of  his  sober,  practical  mind. 

We  seek,  therefore,  in  vain  among  his  writings  for 
erudite  treatises  and  discussions  on  the  problems  of  the  day 
and  their  possible  solutions,  and  are  compelled  to  glean  his 
ideas  on  the  different  questions  from  his  mode  of  action,  his 
various  constitutions,  and  from  incidental  remarks  found 
in  his  correspondence  and  his  spiritual  conferences. 


49 


CHAPTER  I 


Conservatism 

Since  St.  Vincent  had  no  definite,  technical  plan  of  relief 
and  reform  which  he  wished  to  fit  into  the  social  structure, 
we  are  not  so  much  surprised  at  the  extremely  conservative 
ideas  that  he  manifested  throughout  his  career.  As  far  as 
is  known,  he  never  even  thought  of  submitting  the  existing 
institutions,  whether  political,  economic,  social,  or  chari¬ 
table,  to  a  philosophical  scrutiny,  of  comparing  their  justice, 
their  utility,  or  their  propriety  to  different,  and  possibly 
more  equitable,  arrangements. 

He  accommodated  himself,  therefore,  to  the  institutions 
as  he  found  them.  He  accepted  them  as  a  matter  of  course. 
He  beheld  their  weaknesses,  their  failures,  and  their  abuses, 
it  is  true ;  but,  instead  of  advocating  fundamental  or  revolu¬ 
tionary  innovations,  he  endeavored  merely  to  reenforce  their 
weak  points,  to  supplement  their  shortcomings,  and  to  cor¬ 
rect  their  abuses. 

We  have  unmistakable  testimony  of  his  conservatism 
in  his  own  words.  Mile,  le  Gras  had  asked  him  concerning 
some  changes  of  detail  in  a  certain  hospital.  “That  which 
is  good,”  he  answered,  “one  must  not  change;  as  for  me,  I 
have  as  my  maxim  wherever  I  go  to  change  nothing  in  order 
to  accommodate  it  to  my  way  except  what  is  bad;  I  prefer  to 
accommodate  myself  to  it,  for  I  think,  ‘Who  am  I  that  I 
would  order  and  change  things  ?  Those  who  have  done  them, 
have  had  reasons  for  doing  them  thus  and  have  taken  coun¬ 
sel,  and  shall  I  of  my  own  accord  overturn  it  all?  I  would 
rather  accommodate  myself  to  it/  I  tell  you  also,  my  daugh¬ 
ter,  that  which  you  will  find  bad  or  prejudicial  to  the  glory  of 
God  or  to  the  salvation  of  fellowman,  oh !  try  in  a  gentle  way 
to  remedy  it ;  but  what  is  not  bad,  one  must  leave  as  long  as 
possible.”1  When  we  bear  in  mind'  that  St.  Vincent  enun- 

1  Lett,  et  Confer  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi),  306,  No.  3,  June  19,  1647. 

51 


52 


THE  CHARITIES 


ciated  this  maxim  after  nearly  forty  years’  experience  in 
public  works  of  charity,  we  can  assure  ourselves  that  he  is 
but  summarizing  his  past  policy  and  giving  expression  to 
his  settled  conviction. 

In  one  of  his  letters2  he  advised  a  confrere  not  to  be  over- 
zealous  in  correcting  abuses.  “He  who  wishes  to  cure  the 
evils  of  the  body  and  restore  better  health,”  he  writes,  “must 
give  the  remedies  little  by  little ;  otherwise  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  he  will  cause  more  harm  than  good.  It  suffices  in  a  visit 
[canonical  visitation]  that  one  learns  the  evil,  proposes  and 
orders  the  remedies  and  leaves  the  execution  to  the  su¬ 
perior.”  This  advice  is  especially  significant  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  point  at  issue  concerned  his  own  Congregation 
where  he  enjoyed  complete  jurisdiction.  For  the  correction 
of  abuses  among  the  Christian  captives  of  Algiers  he  urged 
the  utmost  discretion  and  moderation.  “Especially  one  must 
not  undertake  to  abolish  so  soon,”  he  wrote,  “the  things  that 
are  in  vogue  among  them  [i.  e.,  the  captives]  though  they 
be  bad.  Someone  told  me  the  other  day  a  beautiful  passage 
of  St.  Augustine,  who  says  that  one  should  be  cautious  to 
attack  at  first  sight  a  vice  that  is  prevalent  in  the  place,  be¬ 
cause  one  will  not  only  not  succeed,  but,  on  the  contrary,  one 
will  offend  the  minds  in  which  this  custom  is,  as  it  were, 
inveterate,  so  that  one  will  no  longer  be  in  a  position  to  ac¬ 
complish  in  them  the  further  good  which  one  would  have 
been%able  to  do  by  approaching  them  in  another  way.” — “I 
do  not  say,”  he  continues,  “that  one  must  authorize  or  permit 
their  disorders ;  but  I  do  say  that  the  remedies  ought  to  bs 
gentle  and  benign  in  their  [the  captives’]  present  condition 
and  applied  with  great  precaution,  because  of  the  place  and 
the  prejudice  which  they  could  cause  you  if  you  displease 
them,  and  not  only  you,  but  also  the  consul  and  the  work  of 
God.  .  .  .”3 

The  brethren  at  Montmirail  had  apparently  desired  and, 
perhaps,  attempted,  to  introduce  the  daily  exposition  of  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  during  the  octave  of  Corpus  Christi.  St. 
Vincent  wrote  to  them :  “The  exposition  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  during  the  octaves  is  not  everywhere  in  vogue. 


2  Lett.,  i.,  597,  No.  509,  To  M.  Portail,  Confrere  at  La  Rose,  Nov.  24,  1646. 

3  Lett.,  ii.,  297,  No.  759,  To  M.  Philippe  Levacher  in  Algiers,  Dec.,  1650. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


53 


One  must  do  at  Rome  as  the  Romans  do  and  submit  to  the 
customs  of  the  place  if  they  are  not  wrong.”4  To  some  Sis¬ 
ters  who  were  to  engage  in  war  nursing  at  Calais,  he  gave 
the  advice  on  the  eve  of  their  departure :  “When  you  see 
that  those  who  nurse  the  sick  do  not  go  about  the  work  in 
the  proper  way,  say  nothing  except  to  our  Sisters.”5  They 
were,  therefore,  not  to  proceed  rashly  in  reforming  the 
methods  of  others. 

The  privilege  of  the  king  to  confer  certain  ecclesiastical 
offices  had  become  directly  responsible  for  many  of  the  dis¬ 
orders  of  the  Church  of  France.  And  St.  Vincent,  on  his 
part,  was  very  intent  on  restoring  ecclesiastical  discipline. 
Still,  in  spite  of  his  intimacy  and  influence  at  the  royal  court, 
he  did  not  endeavor  to  have  the  king  cede  his  privilege  but 
devoted  his  efforts  to  the  correction  of  its  abuse  by  having 
only  worthy  candidates  appointed  to  office.  He  beheld,  too, 
the  flagrant  abuses  to  which  the  right  of  appeal  from  an 
ecclesiastical  to  a  secular  court  [ appel  comme  d’abus ]  was 
put.  But  here  again  he  advocated,  not  the  abolition  of  the 
right,  but  merely  the  correction  of  its  abuses  by  urging  the 
ecclesiastical  jurists  to  fill  their  positions  so  faultlessly  and 
efficiently  as  to  preclude  all  reason  of  appeal. 

The  disorders  existing  in  the  Hotel-Dieu  of  Paris  were 
brought  to  his  notice,  and  he  was  called  upon  to  reform  them. 
He  did  so  merely  by  having  his  Ladies  of  Charity  supple¬ 
ment  the  efforts  of  those  in  charge.  And  on  a  larger  scale, 
the  service  and  accommodations  of  the  hospitals  had  become 
inadequate  to  the  increased  numbers  and  needs  of  the  sick 
poor.  Vincent,  however,  did  not  think  of  analyzing  the  sit¬ 
uation  methodically  and  of  reorganizing  hospital  work  on  a 
new  and  broader  basis  to  meet  these  new  demands.  He  con¬ 
tented  himself  with  correcting  abuses  when  occasion  offered, 
and  established  his  conferences  of  charity  which  served  as 
supplementary  agencies.  We  must  remark,  however,  that 
although  St.  Vincent  was  conscious  of  this  result  as  the  work 
developed,  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  had  it  definitely  in  mind 
when  founding  his  first  confraternity,  nor  do  we  detect 

4  Lett.,  i.,  213,  No.  206,  To  M.  Becu,  June  17,  1638. 

5  Conferences  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul  aux  Filles  de  la  Charite,  Paris,  1881, 

vol.  ii.,  520,  No.  93,  Aug.  4,  1658. 


54 


THE  CHARITIES 


evidences  of  systematized  cooperation  between  the  two  or¬ 
ganizations  at  any  time. 

Neither  by  word  nor  action  did  St.  Vincent  manifest 
disapproval  of  the  long  established  social  divisions.  Neither 
did  he  expressly  approve  them.  He  merely  accepted  the  ar¬ 
rangement  as  a  matter  of  course.  And  we  find  him  at  all 
times  showing  the  customary  respect  and  deference  for  the 
nobility. 

We  find  a  very  striking  exemplification  of  this  at  the  time 
of  the  devastation  of  Lorraine.  A  number  of  the  nobility 
had  taken  refuge  in  Paris  and  were  in  great  need.  Though 
St.  Vincent  was  ever  insistent  on  the  obligation  of  earning 
one’s  livelihood  [cf.  pp.  157-8],  still,  remembering  that  the 
nobility  were  conventionally  exempted  from  manual  labor,  he 
respected  this  exemption  and  organized  a  special  band  of 
pious  nobles  to  provide  them  with  the  necessaries  of  life 
[cf.  pp.  258-60.] 

He  was,  however,  opposed  in  principle  to  the  ambition  of 
passing  from  one  social  status  to  a  higher  by  the  ladder  of 
accumulated  wealth.  He  preached  contentment  with  one’s 
social  status.  There  each  one  was  to  seek  his  livelihood  and 
his  happiness,  detached  from  an  inordinate  desire  of  worldly 
possession  and  serving  God  in  peace  and  resignation  [cf. 
pp.  155-7].  He  did  not  wish  to  have  the  nobility  enter  either 
his  Congregation  of  Mission  Priests  or  his  Daughters  of 
Charity.  This  stand,  however,  as  he  himself  says,  was 
prompted,  not  by  an  odious  discrimination  against  the  nobles 
as  a  class,  but  by  motives  of  humility — his  Mission  Priests 
and  his  Daughters  of  Charity  were  humble,  unpretentious 
organizations  recruiting  their  ranks  from  among  the  poor 
for  work  among  the  poor.  Still  Vincent’s  practical  mind 
must  have  been  influenced  at  the  same  time  by  the  consid¬ 
eration  that  these  were  also  better  fitted  by  associations  of 
early  life  and  general  temperament  for  this  task  of  sacri¬ 
ficing  love. 

Social  classes,  however,  did  not  mean  social  isolation 
to  the  mind  of  St.  Vincent.  He  himself  disregarded  social 
lines  entirely  in  his  administrations  of  charity.  He  assisted 
alike  the  noble  and  the  peasant.  Need,  and  not  rank,  was 
his  criterion  of  action.  He  organized  a  special  band  of 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


55 


nobles  as  we  have  just  seen,  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  im¬ 
poverished  noble  refugees  of  Lorraine,  while  he  had  the 
children  of  the  nobility  brought  to  Paris  where  he  himself 
procured  for  them  help  and  protection.  [Cf.  pp.  252-3.]  The 
whole  complex  of  his  mission  of  charity  tended,  as  a  natural 
result,  to  bring  the  classes  into  closer  and  more  sympathetic 
union,  though  leaving  unimpaired  the  demarcations  of  social 
status.  He  unrolled  before  the  eyes  of  the  rich  and  socially 
prominent  the  needs  and  miseries  of  those  less  favored  with 
the  goods  of  this  world  and  urged  upon  them  the  obligations 
of  Christian  charity.  That  they  responded  generously  to 
his  appeal  is  amply  evidenced  by  the  results.  The  recipients 
of  this  charity,  on  their  part,  could  not  but  regard  their 
benefactors  with  affectionate  gratitude. 

The  system  of  property  holding,  too,  in  all  its  phases, 
as  it  existed  in  France  during  the  seventeenth  century,  re¬ 
ceived  at  least  the  implicit  endorsement  of  St.  Vincent. 
There  is  no  word  or  action  of  his  on  record  that  could  be 
interpreted  as  condemning  the  prevailing  system  or  as  advo¬ 
cating  any  reform  in  principle.  He  refers  to  the  common 
ownership  of  property  practiced  by  the  first  Christians  only 
when  addressing  his  Daughters  of  Charity  and  in  explaining 
their  rule  and  their  vow  of  poverty.6  By  taking  possession 
of  the  priory  of  Saint-Lazare,  Jan.  8,  1632,  he  became  the 
lord  of  a  vast  ecclesiastical  seigniory  with  all  its  privileges 
and  offices  of  justice.  He  had  the  right  to  judge  and  punish 
crimes  committed  on  the  estate  and  to  distribute  all  the 
offices.  The  peasants  dwelling  on  the  property  and  tilling 
the  land  paid  their  annual  rent.  He  inquired  concerning  the 
producing  value  of  farms,  he  bought  and  traded  them,  and 
took  and  paid  rent  for  them  in  connection  with  the  estab¬ 
lishments  of  his  Congregation  throughout  France.7 

He  expressed  his  views  on  the  right  of  private  owner¬ 
ship  and  its  inviolability  very  clearly  in  one  of  his  confer¬ 
ences  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity.  He  was  explaining  the 
article  of  their  rule  which  forbids  a  Sister  to  take  what  has 


6  Confer,  ciux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  173,  No.  67,  Aug.  20,  1656. 

7  Cf.,  v.g.,  Lett.,  ii.,  451,  No.  887,  To  M.  Gicquel  at  le  Mans,  July  24,  1652; 
Lett.,  iv.,  328,  329,  No.  1831,  To  M.  Monvoisin  at  Montmirail,  May  5,  1659; 
Ibid.,  506.  No.  1980,  Dec.  16,  1659. 


56 


THE  CHARITIES 


been  assigned  to  the  use  of  another.  As  a  motive  for  its 
observance,  he  said  that  “by  failing  in  this  respect  one  acts 
against  the  natural  law  which  forbids  one  to  make  use  of 
the  things  of  another  against  the  latter’s  will.  This  is  the 
first  law  that  God  has  planted  in  the  heart  of  man  .  .  . 

that  one  does  not  do  to  another  what  one  does  not  wish  to 
have  done  to  oneself.”  A  little  later  in  the  same  conference 
he  said:  “In  the  world  [in  contrast  to  religious  life],  to  re¬ 
tain  against  the  will  of  another  that  which  belongs  to  him 
is  called  theft.”8 

In  accordance  with  this  conviction  he  was  very  prompt 
in  paying  his  debts.  If  he  owed  money,  he  would  not  wait 
for  the  creditor  to  call  for  it,  but  had  it  sent  to  him.  He 
said  that  it  was  not  just  to  put  one  to  the  inconvenience 
of  calling  in  order  to  get  what  was  legitimately  his  own. 
He  was  also  very  conscientious  in  indemnifying  those  who 
had  suffered  any  damage  on  his  account,  no  matter  how  in¬ 
voluntarily  it  had  happened.  One  day  his  coachman  ac¬ 
cidentally  upset  some  loaves  of  bread  in  front  of  a  baker- 
shop.  He  immediately  paid  for  them  and  had  them  sent  to 
Saint-Lazare.  The  same  coachman  on  another  occasion 
broke  an  old  and  well-worn  bar  that  served  to  close  a  car¬ 
riage  entrance.  St.  Vincent  had  it  replaced  with  a  new  one 
three  or  four  times  its  value.  The  sole  laxity  that  can  be 
detected  in  St.  Vincent’s  views  on  property  rights  is  his  re¬ 
fusal  to  urge  his  own  debts  and  prosecute  his  own  just 
claims.  [Cf.  pp.  67-9.] 

We  may  adduce  still  another  example  of  St.  Vincent’s 
conservatism  in  economic  questions,  viz.,  the  question  of  tak¬ 
ing  interest.  In  all  his  works  we  find  but  one  clear  reference 
to  the  question.9  He  had  been  asked  by  one  of  the  brethren 
if  a  guardian  were  allowed  to  put  ten  thousand  crowns  of 
his  ward’s  money  on  interest  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
court  would  condemn  him  to  pay  interest  to  this  protege. 
St.  Vincent  did  not  give  a  direct  answer.  He  did  not  even 
venture  an  opinion  of  his  own,  but  merely  advanced  the  opin- 


8  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  255,  257,  No.  75,  Aug.  5,  1657. 

9  In  Lett.,  iv.,  243,  No.  1768,  Dec.  13,  1658,  he  authorized  M.  Desdames, 
the  addressee,  to  borrow  a  thousand  crowns  and  instructs  him  to  return  it 
later  in  small  payments,  but  he  makes  no  mention  of  interest. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


57 


ions  of  others,  from  which,  however,  it  is  evident  that  he,  in 
agreement  with  the  moralists  of  his  day,  did  not  admit  the 
lawfulness  of  direct  interest  taking.  He  wrote :  “The  Sor- 
bonne  finds  itself  hindered  from  solving  this  difficulty  seeing, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  the  best  casuists  condemn  this  usury 
and,  on  the  other,  that  the  sovereign  courts  authorize  it, 
especially  with  regard  to  wards.  Still  these  doctors  [of  the 
Sorbonne]  are  of  the  common  opinion  that  guardians,  as 
well  as  others,  cannot  and  ought  not  collect  these  interests, 
but  should  find  some  way  of  escaping  that  the  courts  oblige 
them  to  pay  interest  to  their  wards,  for  example,  by  calling 
their  parents,  in  order,  with  their  consent,  to  command  that 
the  money  which  they  hold  be  put  in  real  estate  or  en  rentes 
constitue.es.  This  is  what  you  can  advise  to  him  of  whom  you 
speak ;  and,  if  he  has  already  given  it  on  interest,  it  is  proper 
that  he  demand  his  debtors  to  return  the  principal  when  the 
time  expires ;  and,  should  they  fail  to  do  so,  that  he  obtain 
sentence  against  them  for  the  payment  of  the  said  interest, 
because  then  it  will  be  more  allowed  for  him  to  receive  it.”10 


10  Lett.,  iii.,  443,  No.  1365,  To  M.  Serre  at  Saint-Meen,  April  4,  1657 


CHAPTER  II 


The  Power  and  Duties  of  the  State 

As  far  as  we  are  able  to  divine  them,  the  ideas  of  Vincent 
de  Paul  on  the  nature  of  the  state,  the  origin  of  its  powers, 
and  its  responsibilities  did  not  differ  from  the  prevalent 
Catholic  concept  and  from  the  current  political  philosophy 
of  France. 

To  his  mind,  the  civil  authority  was  the  delegated  power 
of  God.  Obedience  to  the  king  and  to  his  representatives 
was  obedience  to  God.  We  can  easily  explain,  therefore,  his 
own  reverence  for,  and  submission  to,  authority,  as  also  his 
reason  for  inculcating  these  same  virtues  in  others  whenever 
occasion  offered.  “We  must  never  say  or  do  anything  con¬ 
trary  to  the  laws  and  imposts  of  the  princes,”  he  writes  to 
the  superior  at  Turin,1  “for  they  believe,  and  with  reason, 
that  their  power  is  of  divine  right.”  He  cites  then  the  mir¬ 
acle  that  Christ  performed  in  order  to  “render  to  Caesar  the 
things  that  are  Caesar’s”  and  concludes  with  the  earnest 
request :  “I  beg  you  to  make  this  truth  well  known  to  all 
your  colaborers,  in  order  that  they  fail  in  no  regard  against 
the  sovereign  orders.”  In  a  conference  to  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  and  again  in  one  to  his  confreres  he  places  obedi¬ 
ence  “to  the  princes  and  kings  of  earth”  on  a  par  with 
the  obedience  due  ecclesiastical  authority  and  says  the  com¬ 
mandments  of  God  oblige  to  the  one  as  well  as  to  the  other.2 
On  one  occasion  he  had  intended  to  visit  certain  of  his  estab¬ 
lishments,  but  the  queen  commanded  him  to  return  to  Paris. 
In  his  perplexity  he  wrote  thus  to  one  of  his  brethren :  “I 
do  not  see  how  I  can  do  the  will  of  God  in  not  obeying  [the 
queen],  I  who  have  always  believed  and  taught  that  one 


1  Lett.,  iii.,  309,  No.  1256,  July  14,  1656. 

2  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi.),  234.  No.  13,  Sept.  29,  1655; 
Acis  et  Confer.  Spirituelles  de  S.  Vine,  dc  Paul,  Paris.  1881,  174,  No.  56, 
Oct.  15,  1655.  Cf.  also  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  Char.,  i.,  65,  No.  9,  June  20,  1642. 

59 


60 


THE  CHARITIES 


must  obey  the  princes,  even  the  bad  ones,  as  Holy  Scripture 
says.”3  •'  r  'ipr|3rJI 

To  what  extent  he  was  ready  to  carry  his  obedience,  he 
manifested  when  he  said :  “My  brethren,  following  their 
[the  early  Christians’]  example,  we  ought  to  render  faith¬ 
ful  and  simple  obedience  to  the  kings  without  ever  complain¬ 
ing  against  them  or  murmuring  for  any  reason  whatever. 
And  though  it  will  be  a  question  of  losing  our  possessions 
and  our  lives,  let  us  give  them  in  this  spirit  of  obedience 
rather  than  act  contrary  to  their  wishes  when  the  will  of 
God  does  not  intervene;  for  the  kings  represent  to  us  on 
earth  the  sovereign  power  of  God.”4 

After  the  magistrates  of  Paris  had  determined  in  1656 
to  open  the  Hopital  General  [p.  272]  public  begging  and 
public  almsgiving  were  forbidden  by  law  in  Paris.  St. 
Vincent,  in  obedience  to  the  law,  discontinued  his  distribu¬ 
tion  of  alms  at  Saint-Lazare.  The  poor  complained  to  him, 
saying:  “Mon  Pere,  has  not  God  commanded  to  give  alms 
to  the  poor?”  His  charitable  heart  must  have  been  deeply 
touched,  but  he  answered :  “It  is  true,  my  friends,  but  He 
has  also  commanded  obedience  to  magistrates.”5  Still  dur¬ 
ing  a  severe  winter  which  reduced  many  families  to  extreme 
misery,  he  continued  his  daily  distribution  of  bread  and  soup. 
We  do  not  know,  however,  that  this  was  not  done  with  the 
consent  of  the  civil  authorities. 

If  St.  Vincent  believed  in,  and  taught,  the  sancity  of  civil 
laws  and  of  the  royal  power  from  which  they  emanated,  he 
was  also  clear  in  declaring  the  dependence  of  the  king  on  the 
supreme  Lawgiver.  Referring  to  the  civil  dissensions  at  the 
time  of  the  Fronde,  he  wrote  thus  to  one  of  his  superiors : 
“God  sometimes  permits  these  great  agitations,  which  shake 
the  strongest  states,  in  order  to  remind  the  sovereigns  of 
the  earth  that  they  depend  on  His  royal  power  and  that 
they  are  not  more  independent  than  are  their  own  sub¬ 
jects.”6 

Obedience  and  submission  to  civil  authority  did  not 

3  Lett.,  ii.,  161,  No.  647,  To  M.  Portail,  Missionary  at  Marseilles,  May 
21,  1649. 

4  Abelly,  iii.,  319. 

5  Ibid.,  iii.,  187-8. 

6  Lett.,  iii.,  346-7,  No.  1288,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  in  Silesia,  Sept.  18,  1656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


61 


mean,  however,  that  St.  Vincent  always  saw  with  the  eyes 
of  the  government,  agreed  blindly  with  all  its  policies,  and 
endorsed  all  its  acts.  He  could  not  approve  of  Richelieu’s 
policy  of  breaking  the  power  of  Catholic  Austria  by  allying 
the  forces  of  Catholic  France  with  the  Protestant  princes 
of  Germany,  nor  of  his  endeavor  to  acquire  national  pres¬ 
tige  at  the  cost  of  individual  welfare  and  prosperity.  He  pro¬ 
tested  to  the  president  of  the  parliament  of  Rennes  against 
the  unjust  imprisonment  of  one  of  the  brethren  and  de¬ 
manded  his  release.7  He  protested  against  a  new  tax  im¬ 
posed  by  the  city  of  Angers  and  prejudicial  to  certain  in¬ 
terests  of  his  Congregation.8  He  protested  likewise  against 
the  queen’s  rigor  during  the  Fronde,  as  we  shall  see  im¬ 
mediately. 

In  stressing  submission  to  lawful  authority,  St.  Vincent 
was  influenced  also  by  social  considerations.  He  recog¬ 
nized  that  disregard  for  law  and  order  was  the  basic  and 
fertile  source  of  armed  rebellion  and  civil  strife,  while  these, 
in  turn,  were  directly  responsible  for  much  of  the  moral  and 
material  misery  of  the  realm,  especially  at  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Hence,  by  urging  respect  for  author¬ 
ity,  he  was  at  the  same  time  striking  at  the  root  of  a  social 
evil. 

The  first,  to  whom  he  turned  during  this  turbulent  period 
were  the  bishops.  He  urged  and  encouraged  them  to  remain 
in  their  dioceses,  that  by  their  presence  and  their  authority 
they  might  hold  the  people  faithful  to  their  allegiance  and 
suppress  the  designs  of  the  rebellious.  He  wrote  a  number 
of  letters  to  this  effect  to  several  of  the  prelates.  Some  he 
congratulated  for  having  kept  the  cities  of  their  diocese  loyal 
to  the  cause  of  the  king.  Others  he  dissuaded  from  coming 
to  the  capital  to  present  their  complaints  against  the 
marauding  soldiers ;  it  would  be  useless  at  this  inopportune 
time.  They  should  rather  remain  at  their  posts,  consoling 
and  encouraging  their  flocks  and  rendering  what  services 
they  could  to  the  king,  who  would  one  day  indemnify  them.9 


7  Lett.,  i.,  569,  No.  487.  To  M.  de  Marbeuf,  Sept.  8,  1646. 

8  Ibid.,  533,  No.  462,  July  8,  1646. 

9  Lett.,  ii.,  401,  No.  852,  To  Nicolas  Sevin,  Archbp.  of  Sarlat,  Mar.  23, 
1652;  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  105,  No.  3082,  an.  1654. 


62 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  service  of  the  king  and  the  welfare  of  France  and 
its  people  impelled  him  to  go  further.  He  addressed  a  letter 
of  some  length  to  the  Holy  Father,  Innocent  X,  in  which  he 
exposed  the  miseries  of  France  and  begged  him  as  “Pastor 
of  the  Universal  Church”  to  use  his  influence  in  bringing 
about  peace.10  He  also  acted  as  mediator  between  the  throne 
and  the  rebellious  princes. 

But  his  courage,  disinterestedness,  loyalty  to  king  and 
conscience,  and  desire  for  peace  were  very  strikingly  brought 
out  during  these  same  troubles  by  another  event.  The  bar* 
ricades  of  Paris  thrown  up  by  the  rebels,  the  violent  libera¬ 
tion  of  those  who  had  been  arrested  by  order  of  the  court, 
and  the  factions  which  daily  increased,  induced  the  queen 
to  deviate  from  her  usual  mildness  and  to  adopt  rigid  meas¬ 
ures.  She  resolved  to  starve  the  city  into  submission.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  she  left  Paris  with  the  young  king  and  the  greater 
part  of  her  court  and  took  up  her  temporary  residence  at 
Saint  Germain-en-Laye.  This  course  appeared  too  rigorous, 
if  not  unjust,  to  St.  Vincent.  He  was  terrified  at  the  thought 
of  the  misery  and  suffering  that  would  inevitably  ensue. 
He  determined,  therefore,  to  have  an  interview  with  the 
queen. 

He  was  well  aware  that  such  a  step,  in  the  present 
agitated  state  of  the  public  mind,  might  mean  disgrace  or 
exile  for  him ;  but  he  feared  neither  when  confronted  with 
the  alternative  of  seeing  God  outraged  and  the  people  re¬ 
duced  to  extreme  misery.  He  left  Paris  without  acquainting 
anyone  with  his  design,  in  order  to  be  able  to  assure  the 
queen  that  he  was  acting  purely  on  his  own  initiative.  After 
a  circuitous  route  fraught  with  grave  dangers  to  his  personal 
safety,  he  arrived  at  Saint  Germain.  In  a  long  interview 
with  the  queen,  he  advanced  every  argument  he  could  mus¬ 
ter  to  incline  her  to  clemency.  He  presented  to  her  the  in¬ 
justice  of  occasioning  the  starvation  of  thousands  in  order 
to  punish  a  few.  Finally,  he  even  presumed  to  advise  at 
least  the  temporary  dismissal  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  her 
prime  minister,  who,  because  of  his  Italian  birth  and  his 
selfish  ambitions,  was  the  center  of  the  rebellion.  Going 


10  Ibid.,  464,  No.  899,  To  Pope  Innocent  X,  Aug.  16,  1652. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


63 


from  the  apartment  of  the  queen  to  that  of  her  minister, 
he  repeated  all  he  had  said  to  the  queen,  not  omitting  the 
Cardinal’s  retirement  from  power.  Mazarin,  won  by  Vin¬ 
cent’s  disinterestedness  and  sincerity,  did  not  take  this  bold¬ 
ness  ill,  but  answered  kindly,  though,  perhaps,  diplomat¬ 
ically  :  “Well,  my  Father,  I  will  go,  if  M.  de  Tellier  is  of  your 
opinion.”  That  same  day,  the  queen  held  a  council  to  dis¬ 
cuss  the  propositions  of  Vincent.  M.  de  Tellier  opposed 
them,  as  Mazarin  probably  knew  he  would,  through  reasons 
of  state,  and  it  was  determined  that  the  Cardinal  remain. 

St.  Vincent  later  wrote  a  letter  to  Mazarin  in  which  he 
fearlessly  told  him  of  the  impossibility  of  gaining  the  good 
will  of  the  people  by  being  exclusive,  that  he  must  necessarily 
grant  representations  of  the  nobles,  free  access  to  the  king, 
and  have  the  king  and  queen  mother  return  to  Paris.11 
Peace  was  finally  established,  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the 
efforts  of  St.  Vincent. 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was,  then,  a  lover  and  promoter  of 
peace.  Still  he  did  not  reject  war  as  intrinsically  wrong. 
On  the  contrary,  he  recognized  its  legitimacy  when  waged 
in  defence  of  the  just  interests  of  the  State  or  the  Church. 
He  informed  M.  Lambert,  the  superior  at  Richelieu,  by  letter 
of  the  prospective  coming  of  the  king  to  that  town  and  in¬ 
structed  him  as  to  how  he  should  pay  his  respects.  “Tell 
him,”  he  wrote,  “that  you  have  come  to  present  to  his 
Majesty  the  services  of  the  Company  and  to  assure  him  of 
its  prayers  that  it  may  please  God  to  bless  his  person  and  his 
arms  and  to  preserve  him  always  that  He  may  grant  him  the 
grace  to  subdue  the  rebels  and  to  extend  his  empire  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  in  order  to  make  God  reign  in  his  states.”12 

These  good  wishes,  prompted,  in  part,  more  by  love  and 
devotion  to  king  and  country  than  by  the  hope  of  their 
realization,  prove,  nevertheless,  that  Vincent  considered  just 
and  holy  the  right  of  royalty  to  suppress  rebellion  by  the 
force  of  arms. 

Among  the  regulations  drawn  up  to  meet  the  special 
needs  of  his  army  chaplains,  we  read :  “The  priests  of  the 
Mission  who  are  with  the  army  will  bear  in  mind  that  our 


11  Ibid.,  475,  No.  906,  Sept.  11,  1652. 

12  Ibid.,  254,  No.  724,  July  17,  1650. 


64 


THE  CHARITIES 


Lord  has  called  them  to  this  holy  occupation,  to  offer  their 
prayers  and  their  sacrifices  to  God  for  the  happy  success  of 
the  good  designs  of  the  king  and  for  the  preservation  of  his 

army . They  will  have  ....  a  special  devotion  to 

the  name  God  assumes  in  the  Scriptures,  ‘the  God  of  Armies,’ 
and  to  the  sentiment  our  Lord  had  when  He  said,  ‘ non  veni 
pacem  mittere  sed  c/ladinm ’  [I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but 
the  sword.  Mt.  10,  34.]  :  and  this  that  He  may  give  us  peace 
which  is  the  aim  of  war.”13  These  regulations  were  given  in 
1636  at  the  beginning  of  the  French  period  of  the  Thirty 
Years’  War.  At  the  same  time  Saint-Lazare  was  serving  as 
an  emergency  recruiting  station  and  barracks  for  the  army 
mustered  to  meet  the  invasion  of  the  Spaniards.14 

These  circumstances  are  especially  significant  in  view  of 
St.  Vincent’s  expressed  opposition  to  Richelieu’s  policy 
which  forced  France  to  take  up  arms  against  Catholic 
Austria.  They  seem  to  indicate  Vincent’s  willingness  to  co¬ 
operate  whole-heartedly  in  executing  the  king’s  wishes  and 
commands  while  not  approving  of  the  policies  that  prompted 
them,  even  while  urging  the  king  to  change  these  policies. 
Or,  to  express  it  more  concretely,  the  official  declaration  of 
war  was  sufficient  to  enlist  his  patriotic  sympathy  and  aid 
in  the  cause  of  the  king.  The  consideration  of  the  policy 
that  led  to  war  does  not  seem  to  have  cooled  the  ardor  of  his- 
service. 

In  a  letter  to  M.  Get,  the  superior  at  Marseille,  we  read : 
“I  am  consoled  to  hear  of  the  expedition  of  the  English 
against  those  of  Tunis  and  desire  that  France  do  the  same.”15 
“Oh !  that  we  earnestly  pray  to  God,”  he  wrote  again,  “that 
He  bless  the  designs  of  the  Republic  of  Genoa  if  it  is  true  that 
it  has  taken  up  arms  against  these  miscreant  towns  [of  the 
Barbary  States]  that  do  so  much  evil  to  all  Christianity  and 
whose  inhabitants,  slaves  of  the  demon,  wish  to  ruin  the  souls 
of  as  many  Christians  as  they  hold  under  their  tyranny.”10 
In  still  another  letter  he  wrote  on  the  same  point :  “I  render 
thanks  to  God  for  the  proposition  which  M.  le  Chevalier  Paul 


13  Abellv,  i.,  231. 

14  Lett.,  i.,  136,  No.  133.  To  M.  Portail,  Aug.  15,  1636. 

15  Lett.,  iii.,  169,  No.  1126,  June  4,  1655. 

16  Ibid.,  336,  No.  1278,  To  M.  Get,  Sept.  1,  1656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


65 


lias  made  of  going  to  Algiers  to  exact  justice  of  the  Turks. 
1  beg  you  to  see  him  for  me  and  to  congratulate  him  on  this 
design.”17  In  these  citations  Vincent  unmistakably  admits 
the  justice  of  war  to  break  the  power  of  the  enemies  of 
Christianity. 

He  elsewhere  acknowledges  the  legitimacy  of  one  nation 
going  to  the  assistance  of  another  in  repelling  an  unjust  ag~ 
gressor.  He  urged  Richelieu,  though  in  vain,  to  send  the 
forces  of  France  to  aid  Ireland  against  England  instead  of 
using  them  against  Austria  and  assured  the  prime  minister 
that  the  Pope  would  second  his  efforts  and  give  a  hundred 
thousand  crowns  toward  financing  the  undertaking.18 

The  state,  according  to  St.  Vincent,  was  bound  on  its 
part  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  individual  citizen.  He  wrote 
thus  to  M.  Delveres,  minister  of  justice  in  Touraine  :19  “The 
jurisdiction  which  the  king  has  given  you  by  the  oracle  of 
divine  providence  to  uphold  his  [authority]  among  his  sub¬ 
jects  and  to  conserve  the  public  rights  and  guarantee  those  of 
the  individuals ,  occasions  us  to  have  recourse  to  you,  sir,  in 
the  present  circumstances.”20 

During  the  Fronde  he  appealed  to  the  queen  mother  by 
letter,  begging  her  to  protect  the  farmers  against  the 
marauding  soldiers  that  they  might  harvest  their  crops  un¬ 
molested.21  Two  of  his  letters  are  extant  in  which  he  ap¬ 
pealed  to  the  civil  authority  during  the  same  Fronde  to 
furnish  “a  guard  for  the  protection  of  a  little  farm”  of  the 
Congregation  near  Livry.22  On  another  occasion  he  called 
upon  a  magistrate  to  protect  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  in 
their  establishment  at  Toul  against  the  pretensions  of  some 
religious.23 

A  further  obligation  of  the  state  towards  its  citizens 
which  St.  Vincent  emphasized,  related  to  the  administration 


17  Lett.,  iv.,  24,  No.  1602,  To  M.  Get,  Feb.  8,  1658. 

18  Abelly,  i.,  252-. 

19  The  same  letter  was  sent  also  to  M.  de  Bautru,  intendant  general  de  la 
justice  in  Anjou. 

20  The  question  of  a  new  tax  detrimental  to  certain  interests  of  the  Con¬ 
gregation.  Lett.,  i.,  533,  No.  462,  July  8,  1646. 

21  Lett.,  ii..  444,  No.  881,  July  15,  1652. 

22  Ibid.,  456,  No.  890,  To  Mgr.  le  Marechal  de  Turenne,  Aug.,  1652;  Ibid., 
No.  891,  To  M.  de  Raineville,  Marechal  de  Camp. 

23  Lett.,  i.,  460,  No.  397,  Dec.  13,  1643- 


66 


THE  CHARITIES 


of  justice  in  the  criminal  courts.  An  example  drawn  from 
the  mission  activities  of  his  priests  will  best  illustrate  this 
point.24  The  priests  were  conducting  a  mission  in  a  certain 
town,  inhabited  largely  by  officers  of  justice  and  tavern- 
keepers.  Flagrant  abuses  of  justice  were  of  daily  oc¬ 
currence.  The  judges  frequented  the  taverns  with  the  con¬ 
tending  parties  to  eat  and  drink  at  their  expense.  The 
lawyers  did  not  wish  to  plead  their  clients’  causes  except 
under  the  same  conditions.  Moreover,  they  prolonged  their 
cases  in  needless  quibbling,  so  that  many  a  poor  peasant  had 
exhausted  all  his  means  before  his  case  was  ready  for  pres¬ 
entation  to  the  judge.  The  police,  too,  were  guilty  of  grave 
disorders  and  acts  of  injustice. 

After  decrying  these  abuses  from  the  pulpit,  the  mission 
priests  conferred  with  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place  and 
remonstrated  with  him  that  the  glory  of  God  and  obliga¬ 
tions  of  conscience,  as  well  as  personal  honor  and  interest, 
forbade  the  toleration  of  such  conditions  and  urged  him  to 
inaugurate  a  radical  reform.  They  finally  persuaded  him  to 
use  his  authority  and  to  impose  rigid  penalties  on  the  law¬ 
yers,  police,  and  other  officers  of  justice  who  failed  in  their 
duty,  to  forbid  the  judges  to  go  to  the  taverns  with  the  con¬ 
tending  parties,  and  to  prohibit  the  useless  prolongation  of 
cases.  The  missionaries  then  assembled  all  the  lawyers  of 
the  place  and  represented  to  them  that  they  were  sinning  in 
a  serious  obligation  and  that  they  could  not  approach  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church  until  they  had  firmly  resolved  to 
correct  the  abuses  and  to  obey  the  regulations  that  would 

be  made  in  this  matter. 

« 

The  next  step  was  to  call  an  assembly  of  the  police. 
These  presented  a  lengthy  list  of  the  various  duties  of  their 
charge.  It  contained  twenty-five  or  thirty  articles.  On  the 
margin  of  each  the  missionaries  wrote  in  detail  the  manner 
of  best  fulfilling  the  different  obligations.  All  the  police 
officers  submitted  and,  as  a  pledge  of  their  sincerity,  drew 
up  a  document  to  which  they  all  subscribed.  As  a  general  re- 


24  The  correction  of  public  abuses  and  disorders  as  far  as  possible, 
formed  part  of  the  usual  mission  programme.  Hence  we  are  justified  in 
considering  the  actions  of  the  missionaries  as  having  the  full  approval  of 
St.  Vincent,  and  even  as  fairly  reflecting  his  own  ideas  and  sentiments. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


67 


suit  of  these  efforts  of  the  missionaries,  all  the  officers  of 
justice  approached  the  sacraments  to  the  great  edification  of 
the  people,  and  justice  was  conscientiously  administered  in 
this  place  for  years  to  come.25 

The  judge,  according  to  Vincent,  was  to  be  guided  in 
his  judgment  solely  by  the  merits  of  the  case  as  presented 
to  him  in  court.  He  was  not  to  be  influenced  by  any  per¬ 
sonal  knowledge  he  might  have  concerning  the  affair.  We 
read  in  one  of  his  letters :  “The  notary  who  has  written  as 
the  parties  told  him,  ....  although  he  knew  the  contrary, 
was  obliged,  nevertheless,  to  believe  the  parties  of  the  con¬ 
tract;  he  was  in  the  position  of  a  judge  who  must  put  more 
faith  in  what  the  parties  prove  than  in  the  contrary.”20 

We  might  add  yet  that  Vincent  de  Paul  believed  that 
mercy  should  season  justice  even  in  crimes  against  the  state. 
He  considered  it  much  more  expedient  that  Cardinal 
Mazarin  pardon  the  rebels  of  the  Fronde,  as  did  Henry  III 
and  Henry  IV  under  similar  circumstances,  than  that  he  pro¬ 
ceed  against  them  with  all  the  rigor  of  the  law  and  thus 
“throw  oil  into  the  fire  and  enflame  the  others,”  as  did 
Charles  VI.27 

St.  Vincent’s  personal  attitude  toward  courts  of  justice 
was  one  of  aloofness  born  of  his  unaggressive  disposition 
(p.  26),  and  of  distrust  based  on  the  expense  and  difficulty  of 
obtaining  justice.  “The  maxim  of  the  Company,”  he  writes 
in  one  of  his  letters, 2S  “is  to  prefer  loss  to  court  proceedings.” 
The  lawyer  employed  to  attend  to  the  legal  affairs  of  Saint- 
Lazare  testified  that  he  had  never  known  St.  Vincent,  either 
in  his  own  name  as  superior  or  in  that  of  the  community, 
to  prosecute  or  defend  a  claim  with  warmth  or  eagerness, 
no  matter  how  just  his  claim,  nor  how  unjust  the  pretensions 
of  others.  He  remembered,  too,  various  cases  where  Vin¬ 
cent  had  deferred  indefinitely  the  execution  of  court  awards 
implying  the  payment  of  considerable  sums,  for  fear  of  caus¬ 
ing  the  ruin,  as  he  said,  of  some  family. 


25  Abelly,  ii.,  332-5. 

26  Lett.,  i.,  213,  No.  206,  To  M.  Been,  June  17,  1638. 

27  Lett.,  ii.,  476,  No.  906,  To  Card.  Mazarin,  Sept.  11,  1752. 

28  Lett.,  i.,  564,  No.  484,  To  M.  Bourdet,  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  Sept.  1, 
1646. 


68 


THE  CHARITIES 


Immediately  after  his  ordination  to*  the  priesthood  he 
was  assigned  to  the  pastorate  of  Tihl.  A  competitor  had 
applied  to  the  Holy  See  for  the  same  position.  Rather  than 
bring  the  affair  before  an  ecclesiastical  court,  Vincent  peace¬ 
fully  renounced  his  claims  and  devoted  himself  to  further 
study.  St.  Vincent  and  his  young  community  had  no  sooner 
taken  possession  of  Saint-Lazare  than  his  title  was  unjustly 
contested  by  the  religious  of  Saint-Victor.  Only  in  defer¬ 
ence  to  the  advice  of  a  saintly  and  trusted  friend  who  had 
convinced  him  that  God’s  honor  more  than  personal  interest 
was  at  stake,  did  St.  Vincent  consent  to  defend  his  rightful 
claim  in  court. 

More  astonishing  still  is  his  conduct  regarding  the  loss 
of  the  farm  of  Orsigny  in  1658.  This  farm  had  been 
donated  to  the  estates  of  Saint-Lazare  with  the  condition 
of  paying  a  life  annuity.  St.  Vincent  had  accepted  it  only 
in  compliance  with  the  earnest  and  incessant  pleadings  of  a 
benefactor  of  the  Congregation.  After  improving  the  prop¬ 
erty  with  a  considerable  outlay  of  money  and  labor,  the  com¬ 
munity  of  Saint-Lazare  was  evicted  from  its  possession 
without  reimbursement  of  any  kind.  This  entailed  a  loss 
calculated  at  about  50,000  livres.  After  the  decision  of  the 
court  had  been  rendered,  one  of  the  judges,  favorable  to 
Vincent’s  cause,  urged  him  to  appeal  the  case.  Vincent 
replied :  “0  my  God !  far  be  it  from  me  to  do  so.”  Before 
his  brethren,  in  reference  to  the  decision,  he  exclaimed : 
“Thou  Thyself,  O  Lord,  hast  pronounced  the  sentence;  it 
shall  be,  if  Thou  so  desirest,  irrevocable.”  And  he  urged 
his  confreres  to  submit  to  it  as  they  would  to  the  judgment 
of  God.  Though  fully  conscious  of  the  injustice,  no  plead¬ 
ing  of  friends,  no  consideration  nor  assurance  of  success 
in  reversing  the  decision  of  the  court,  no  guarantee  against 
additional  losses  and  expenses,  could  induce  him  to  take 
further  steps  in  the  matter. 

In  a  letter  to  M.  Desbordes,  counselor  of  the  Parliament, 
he  sums  up  the  reasons  for  his  refusal.  Some  of  them  are 
prompted  by  human  prudence  and  considerations,  others 
are  based  on  supernatural  motives.  We  cannot  trust  our 
advisers,  though  versed  in  law  and  well  acquainted  with  our 
case,  he  says,  for  they  assured  us  of  success  in  the  former 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


69 


trial  and  we  lost.  The  decision  was  rendered  not  on  the 
merit  of  the  case  but  according  to  a  principle  of  the  Par¬ 
liament  opposed  to  church  property.  We  shall  have  to  face 
the  same  judges  again,  and  hence  must  expect  to  be  judged 
by  the  same  principle.  We  shall  occasion  scandal  by  caus¬ 
ing  the  impression  of  being  too  attached  to  worldly  posses¬ 
sions.  We  shall  have  two  powerful  adversaries  to  contend 
with.  If  we  seek  the  Kingdom  of  God,  nothing  will  be 
wanting  to  us ;  if  the  world  takes  from  us  on  the  one  side, 
God  will  give  on  the  other.  Since  the  court  has  rendered  its 
adverse  decision  one  of  its  members  has  bequeathed  to  us  an 
amount  equal  to  the  value  of  the  farm.  Finally,  it  is  con¬ 
trary  to  the  advice  of  our  Lord  who  does  not  wish  his  dis¬ 
ciples  to  go  to  court ;  if  I  have  already  done  so,  it  is  because 
I  could  not  in  conscience  abandon  property  so  justly  ac¬ 
quired  and  belonging  to  a  community  committed  to  my 
administration  without  doing  all  in  my  power  to  hold  it,  but 
God  in  the  meantime  has  relieved  me  of  this  obligation  by 
a  decision  of  the  supreme  court  of  justice.29 

St.  Vincent  did,  however,  institute  court  proceedings  in 
extraordinary  circumstances.  His  missionaries  were  dis¬ 
turbed  in  the  possession  of  a  former  Benedictine  abbey.  St. 
Vincent  vigorously  refused  to  yield  and  was  ready  to  take 
the  matter  into  court  and  defend  his  title  with  all  lawful 
means  because,  he  said,  the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  of 
the  poor  demanded  it.30  He  urged  one  of  his  priests  to  col¬ 
lect  certain  tithes  even  though  it  should  be  necessary  to  go 
to  court.  “It  is  a  privileged  case,”  he  wrote,  “which  obliges 
in  conscience.”31 

In  perfect  accordance  with  the  Catholic  concept  of  the 
duties  of  the  state  and  in  virtue  of  the  existing  relations 
between  Church  and  State,  St.  Vincent  demanded  that  the 
civil  authority  meet  its  obligations  also  regarding  the  moral 
welfare  of  the  people.  As  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Con¬ 
science,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  Count  de  Brienne  asking 
him  “to  write  to  M.  le  comte  d’Alais,  to  the  parliament,  and 


29  Lett.,  iv. 

30  Lett.,  i., 

31  Lett.,  iii 


,  141,  No.  1693,  Sept.  3,  1658;  Ibid.,  245.  No.  1771.  Dec.  21,  1658. 
563,  No.  484,  To  M.  Bourdet  Supr.  at  Saint-Meen,  Sept.  1,  1646. 
,  516,  No.  1433,  To  M.  Rivet,  confrere  at  Saintes,  July  29.  1657; 


70 


THE  CHARITIES 


to  the  consuls  of  the  city  of  Aix  in  Provence  that  they 
must  suppress  the  scandalous  conduct  offensive  to  God  and 
the  honest  people  which  occurred  recently  in  the  procession 
of  Corpus  Christi  at  Aix.  .  .  .”32  He  also  made  efforts  to 
exterminate  blasphemy.  Through  his  efforts  the  ordinances 
against  this  crime  were  renewed. 

Vincent  de  Paul  likewise  did  his  utmost  by  private  per¬ 
suasion  and  public  endeavor  to  eradicate  duelling.  He 
united  his  efforts  to  those  of  the  Papal  Nuncio  in  petitioning 
the  Holy  See  formally  to  condemn  the  wicked  practice  by  a 
special  brief33  and  obtained  the  royal  sanction  for  the  asso¬ 
ciation  of  nobles  who  had  bound  themselves  by  oath  never 
to  engage  in  a  duel  and  to  discourage  the  practice  among 
others.  Owing  to  his  endeavors,  one  of  the  first  acts  of 
Louis  XIV  upon  attaining  his  majority  was  to  issue  an 
edict  against  duelling. 

During  these  turbulent  times,  many  took  the  liberty  to 
talk  as  they  pleased  on  religion  and  politics.  Thus  the  door 
was  opened  for  the  publication  of  books  and  pamphlets 
against  faith,  good  morals,  and  the  state.  St.  Vincent  pre¬ 
sented  this  evil  to  the  Council  of  Conscience  and  had  it 
suppressed.  An  order  was  issued  to  seize  immoral  books, 
together  with  the  prohibition  to  print  or  sell  them.  The 
corrupt  stage  was  another  evil  which  St.  Vincent  did  not 
overlook  and  to  which  he  directed  the  attention  of  the  state. 
Some  of  the  actors  “represented  on  the  stage  things  not  only 
indecent,  but  scandalous,  and  which  could  not  be  said,  nor 
heard,  nor  seen,  without  grave  offence  to  God.”  Through 
the  efforts  of  St.  Vincent  they  were  strictly  forbidden.34 

It  would  be  a  false  estimate  of  St.  Vincent  if  we  were 
to  get  the  impression  from  his  relations  with  the  state  that 
he,  in  his  capacity  of  either  priest  or  dispenser  of  charity, 
designedly  took  an  active  part  in  politics.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  opposed  in  principle  to  such  a  course.  We  find  a 

32  Lett.,  i.,  497,  No.  430,  June  2,  1645. 

33  Lett.,  iii.,  282,  No.  1239,  To  M.  Jolly,  May  19,  1656. 

34  Abelly,  ii.,  612-13.  In  connection  with  these  socio-moral  evils,  it  is 
interesting  to  note  that  St.  Vincent  also  had  immodest  fashions  (gorges 
decouvertes)  to  cope  with,  as  he  mentions  casually  and  very  briefly  in  two 
of  his  letters  while  relating  the  success  of  the  mission  given  by  the  Mission 
Priests  to  the  royal  court  at  Saint  Germain-en-Laye.  Lett.,  i.,  195,  No.  189. 
To  M.  Lambert,  Feb.  20,  1638;  Ibid.,  197,  No.  191,  To  M.  Lucas,  Feb.  21,  1638. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


71 


clear  and  definite  expression  of  his  mind  on  this  point  in  a 
letter  to  one  of  his  brethren.  We  may  well  quote  it  at  some 
length.  He  says :  “What  shall  I  say  to  you  regarding  the 
conference  you  have  had  with  the  ambassador  concerning 
the  Italian  prelate  .  .  .  except  that  we  have  as  our  rule  and 
practice  in  this  delicate  matter,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  never 
to  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  the  state  nor  even  to  speak 
of  them  ?  And  this  :  1.  Because  quod  supra  nos ,  nihil  ad  nos 
[what  is  beyond  us  does  not  concern  us]  ;  2.  because  it  is 
not  the  business  of  poor  priests,  as  we,  to  meddle  with,  or 
speak  about,  other  things  than  those  which  concern  our 
calling;  3.  because  the  affairs  of  the  princes  are  mysteries 
which  we  must  respect  and  not  examine  in  detail ;  4.  because 
most  people  offend  God  by  judging  the  actions  of  others, 
especially  of  the  great,  not  knowing  the  reasons  which 
prompted  them  .  .  . ;  5.  all  the  things  that  we  do  are  prob¬ 
lematical,  except  those  determined  by  Holy  Scripture  [Be¬ 
sides  this,  there  is  no  law  of  infallibility  in  one’s  opinion  .  .  . 
The  Son  of  God,  the  model  according  to  which  we  ought  to 
form  our  lives,  always  remained  silent  regarding  the  gov¬ 
ernment  of  the  princes,  though  they  were  pagans  and  idola¬ 
ters]  ;  6.  because  He  [the  Son  of  God]  made  known  to  the 
Apostles  that  they  ought  not  to  meddle  curiously  with  that 
which  concerns,  not  only  the  affairs  of  the  princes,  but  also 
those  of  an  individual,  when  He  told  them,  speaking  of 
another :  Si  eum  volo  manere,  quid  Ud  te  ?  [If  I  wish  that 
he  remain,  what  is  it  to  you?]  For  all  these  reasons  and 
indefinite  others,  I  beg  you,  sir,  to  remain  faithful  to  our 
humble  practice  never  to  converse  about,  much  less  to  inter¬ 
fere,  either  by  word  or  writing,  with  the  affairs  of  the 
princes  and  [I  beg  you]  to  make  known  to  the  ambassador, 
if  he  does  you  the  honor  of  speaking  to  you  about  it,  that 
such  is  the  practice  of  our  little  Company. . .  .  And  finally  . .  . 
I  beg  you,  ...  to  ask  of  God  .  . .  that  He  grant  the  Company 
grace  always  to  be  faithful  in  the  observance  of  this  little 
rule.”35 

We  may  ask  ourselves  how  St.  Vincent  reconciled  this 

30  Lett.,  i.,  292-3.  No.  275,  To  M.  le  Breton  at  Rome,  Feb.  26.  1640.  Cf. 
also  Ibid.,  298,  No.  279,  Mar.  1,  1640;  Ibid.,  436,  No.  373,  To  M.  Codoing  at 
Rome,  Dec.  25,  1642. 


72 


THE  CHARITIES 


doctrine  with  his  later  position  as  member  of  the  Council 
of  Conscience  and  with  his  public  efforts  for  peace  during 
the  Fronde.  The  answer  is  evident.  He  was  so  far  from 
glorying  in  his  appointment  to  the  queen’s  Council  that  he 
accepted  it  and  retained  it  only  with  the  greatest  reluctance 
and  in  deference  to  the  queen’s  commands.  It  wras  for  him, 
not  the  fulfilment  of  personal  desire  and  ambition,  but  a 
source  of  pain  and  embarrassment.  He  frequently  besought 
the  queen  to  grant  him  the  favor,  as  he  styled  it,  of  dis¬ 
charging  him.  He  disclosed  to  a  person  of  confidence  that, 
from  the  time  of  his  appointment,  he  never  offered  up  the 
Sacrifice  of  Holy  Mass  without  praying  for  this  same  grace. 
Speaking  one  day  of  his  office,  he  said :  “I  ask  of  God  that 
I  be  considered  a  fool,  as  in  reality  I  am,  in  order  that  I  be 
no  longer  employed  in  this  position,  and  that  I  may  have 
more  leisure  to  do  penance  and  less  occasion  to  set  a  bad 
example,  than  at  present,  to  our  little  Company.”  After  his 
conference  with  Mazarin  and  his  subsequent  journey  into  the 
country  during  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  it  was  rumored 
in  the  city  that  he  had  been  disgraced  at  court.  An  eccle¬ 
siastical  friend  later  congratulated  him  that  such  was  not 

the  case.  Vincent  struck  his  breast  and  said :  “0  wretch 

\ 

that  I  am,  I  am  not  worthy  of  this  favor!”36 

He  was  prompted  to  assume  an  active  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  state  during  the  Fronde  by  the  example  of  other 
saintly  men  of  history  who  left  their  solitude  and  went  to  the 
court  of  princes  and  emperors  when  it  was  a  question  of 
pacifying  contending  factions  and  procuring  public  peace 
and  tranquillity.  He  was  aware,  too,  of  his  influence,  with 

the  good  bishops  of  France,  the  well-meaning  princes  of  the 

» 

realm,  and  with  the  royal  court,  and  beheld  the  misery  which 
he  could  confidently  hope  to  avert  by  using  this  influence. 
Under  these  circumstances  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  act. 


36  Abelly,  i.,  256-7. 


CHAPTER  III 

t 

Poverty 

The  labors  of  St.  Vincent  centered  around  the  poor.  His 
efforts  throughout  the  long  period  of  his  social  activity  were 
consecrated,  we  might  say,  exclusively  to  their  spiritual  and 
material  relief.  It  is  true,  he  reluctantly  devoted  a  part  of 
his  time  for  a  number  of  years  to  the  service  of  the  queen 
mother  as  member  of  the  council  of  Conscience.  He  com¬ 
missioned  his  brethren  to  preach  a  mission  before  the  royal 
court  at  Saint-Germain ;  but  neither  was  this  of  his  choosing. 
The  brethren  conducted  missions  in  episcopal  cities ;  but  only 
in  a  few  extraordinary  cases  when  it  could  not  prudently  be 
evaded.1 

Apart  from  these  exceptions,  to  better  the  lot  of  the  poor 
and  needy  was  the  end  of  all  his  labors,  whether  in  the  field 
of  missionary  activities,  education,  or  social  relief.  He  once 
told  his  brethren  that  the  principal  duty  of  their  state  of 
life  was  to  labor  for  the  salvation  of  the  poor  country  people ; 
all  else  was  but  accessory  and  instrumental  to  this.2  “My 
brethren,”  he  said  again,  “the  poor  are  our  portion  .  .  . 
0  blessed  rules  of  the  Mission  which  engage  us  to  serve  the 
country  to  the  exclusion  of  the  cities  !”3 

The  queen  mother  requested  him  to  send  some  of  his 
priests  to  Metz  to  conduct  a  mission  there.  He  answered: 
“Madame,  your  Majesty  does  not  know  then  that  the  poor 
priests  of  the  Mission  are  only  for  the  poor  people  of  the 
country.”4  The  formula  of  profession  which  St,  Vincent 
drafted  for  his  religious  comprised  the  three  customary 
vows  of  religion  to  which  is  added  a  fourth,  expressed  in  the 

LV.g.,  at  Annecy,  Lett.,  i.,  331,  No.  299,  To  M.  Codoing  at  Annecy,  July 
26,  1640;  at  Treguier,  Lett.,  iii.,  278,  No.  1235,  To  M.  Dupont  at  Treguier, 
May  13,  1656;  at  Fossano,  Lett.,  iii.,  656,  No.  1534,  To  M.  Martin  at  Turin, 
Nov.  9,  1657. 

2  Avis  ct  Confer,  oux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  29,  No.  18,  Oct.  25,  1643. 

3  Ibid.,  264,  No.  82,  May  17,  1658. 

4  Ibid.,  263,  No.  82,  May  17,  1658. 

73 


74 


THE  CHARITIES 


words:  “I  vow,  moreover,  to  devote  myself  to  the  salvation 
of  the  poor  of  the  country  all  the  time  of  my  life  .  .  .  ”5  He 
assigned  some  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  to  teaching ;  but 
only  among  the  poor.  He  organized  his  bands  of  visiting 
nurses ;  but,  again,  only  for  the  poor.6  In  a  word,  to  be  poor 
was  the  first  requisite  in  one  seeking  the  aid  of  St.  Vincent. 

He  inspired  his  Daughters  of  Charity  with  the  same  love 
and  preference  for  the  poor.  He  requested  one  of  them  to 
enter  the  service  of  Duchess  d’Aiguillon,  the  niece  of  Cardi¬ 
nal  Richelieu,  and  to  assist  her  at  the  same  time  in  her 
works  of  charity.  The  Sister  begged  to  be  excused  saying 
she  had  left  father  and  mother  in  order  to  serve  the  poor 
for  the  love  of  God.  St.  Vincent  then  appointed  a  second 
one  to  the  position.  She  promptly  returned  and  asked  like¬ 
wise  to  be  allowed  to  serve  the  poor  exclusively,  but  was 
persuaded  to  remain  there  for  a  few  days  on  trial.7  Three 
of  the  Sisters  had  been  sent  to  Poland.  The  queen  wished 
to  retain  one  for  her  personal  service,  but  received  the  reply : 
“Madame,  what  do  you  say?  There  are  only  three  of  us  for 
the  service  of  the  poor  and  you  have  so  many  others  in  your 
kingdom  more  capable  than  we  to  serve  your  Majesty!  Per¬ 
mit  us,  Madame,  to  do  here  what  God  demands  of  us  and 
what  we  do  elsewhere.”  When  the  queen  insisted,  she  con¬ 
tinued:  “Pardon  me,  Madame,  but  we  have  dedicated  our¬ 
selves  to  God  for  the  service  of  the  poor.”8  St.  Vincent 
once  asked  a  dying  Sister  if  she  had  any  fear  or  remorse  of 
conscience.  “No,  Father,”  was  the  reply,  “nothing  at  all 
except  that  I  took  too  great  a  pleasure  in  serving  the  poor.”9 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  will  be  more  than  interesting 
to  consider  St.  Vincent’s  ideas  on  social  poverty.  In  the 
first  place,  poverty  was  not  in  itself  a  disgrace,  nor  were  the 
poor  contemptible,  in  his  eyes.  On  the  contrary,  he  terms 
them  “the  well-beloved  of  God,”  “the  portion”  and  “the  lords 
and  masters”  of  his  priests  and  social  workers  to  whom  “we 

5  Voveo  me  praeterea  pauperum  rusticanorum  saluti  toto  vitae  tempore 
in  dicta  Congregatione  vacaturum  (Bougaud,  ii.,  134). 

6  An  exception  is  made  in  favor  of  some  wealthy  families  at  le  Quinze- 

Vingts,  but  St.  Vincent  had  no  choice  in  the  matter.  Lett.,  i.,  312,  No.  289, 
To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1640).  • 

7  Lett.,  i.,  132,  No.  129.  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  May  27,  1636. 

8  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  516,  No.  43,  Feb.  2,  1653. 

9  Ibid.,  597,  No.  51,  May  25,  1654. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


75 


are  unworthy  to  render  our  humble  services,”  but  whom, 
nevertheless,  we  are  obliged  “to  serve  with  respect,  as  our 
masters,  and  with  devotion,  because  they  represent  to  us  the 
person  of  our  Lord  Who  has  said:  What  you  will  do  to  the 
least  of  mine,  I  shall  consider  as  done  to  Me.”10 

As  to  the  causes  of  poverty,  St.  Vincent  seems  not  to 
have  entered  into  the  more  technical  social  and  economic 
processes  which  are  frequently  so  productive  of  poverty, 
and  which  were  at  work  in  France  during  the  seventeenth 
century.  Such  were,  for  example,  practically  unrestricted 
competition,  the  relation  of  the  supply  of  labor  to  its  demand, 
the  growing  exclusiveness  of  the  labor  organizations. 

He  did,  indeed,  discuss  the  problem  of  unemployment, 
but  not  from  a  technical  point  of  view.  He  said  in  a  confer¬ 
ence  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity :  “I  can  assure  you  that  no 
one  has  ever  been  seen  who  has  not  had  more  than  enough 
wherewith  to  live  when  he  wished  to  labor  for  it.”11  Accord¬ 
ing  to  this  statement,  therefore,  a  person  suffers  poverty  be¬ 
cause  he  either  will  not  or  cannot  earn  a  livelihood  by  honest 
work.  Those  who  are  voluntarily  idle,  the  professional  tramp 
and  beggar,  are  undeserving  of  alms ;  they  must  work.  Those 
who  cannot  work — the  young,  the  aged,  the  invalid,  the 
cripple,  and  the  unemployed  during  the  period  of  enforced 
unemployment — alone  can  lay  a  just  claim  to  charitable 
assistance. 

Another  cause  of  poverty  which  Vincent  admitted  was, 
as  we  have  seen  (p.  61),  war  with  its  accompanying  evils, 
resulting  from  disregard  for  law  and  order. 

But  to  his  mind  an  evil  more  basic  still  and  more  respon¬ 
sible  for  public  calamities  than  insubordination  to  legitimate 

10  Cf.  e.g.,  Abelly,  iii.,  170;  Avis  ct  Confer,  an. r  Membres  de  la  Congreg., 
264.  No.  82,  May  17,  1658  ;  Lett.,  ii.,  435,  No.  876,  To  M.  d’Horgny  at  Rome, 
June  13.  1652;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  186,  No.  61,  Mar. 
16.  1656;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  56,  No.  8,  June  14,  1642;  Ibid., 
ii.,  312,  No.  79,  Nov.  11.  1657.  St.  Vincent  lays  no  claim  to  originality  in 
calling  the  poor  his  "lords  and  masters.”  He  told  his  Daughters  of  Charity 
of  the  great  pleasure  he  had  one  day  of  listening  to  a  reading  on  the  vows 
of  the  Hospitallers.  "Behold  the  formula  of  their  vows,”  he  continued,  “  ‘I, 
Brother  N.  N.,  vow  and  promise  to  God  to  keep,  all  my  life,  poverty,  chastity, 
and  obedience,  and  to  serve  our  masters  the  poor!”  Ibid.,  i.,  24-5,  No.  3, 
July  19,  1640.  Speaking  again  to  the  Daughters,  he  said:  “There  is  a  certain 
Company,  I  do  not  remember  the  name,  which  calls  the  poor  our  lords  and 
our  masters .”  Ibid.,  ii.,  312,  No.  79,  Nov.  11,  1657. 

11  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  423,  No.  37,  Nov.  28,  1649. 


76 


THE  CHARITIES 


civil  authority  was  rebellion  against  divine  authority — sin. 
He  argued  that  peace  and  prosperity  are  blessings  of  God, 
but  God,  offended  by  the  sins  of  a  people,  withholds  His 
blessings  and  public  calamity  ensues, — war,  famine  and 
poverty;  hence,  to  insure  lasting  peace  and  prosperity,  sin 
must  be  removed  and  the  anger  of  God  appeased.  “Our  sins 
without  doubt  are  the  cause”  of  the  defeat  that  Poland  has 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Swedish  king,  he  told  his  con¬ 
freres.12  On  another  occasion  he  told  them  that,  as  God  made 
use  of  the  Goths  and  the  Vandals  of  old  to  punish  the 
Church  for  the  sins  of  the  people  and  the  clergy,  so  now, 
during  the  Thirty  Years’  War,  the  king  of  Sweden  has 
risen  to  punish  us  for  our  disorders.  “Yes,  0  Lord!”  he 
continues,  “it  is  we  who  have  provoked  Thy  anger;  it  is 
our  sins  that  have  brought  on  these  calamities.”13 

Prompted  by  this  conviction  he  had  recourse  to  God  in 
earnest  prayer ;  he  offered  up  his  almsgivings,  his  fasts  and 
other  works  of  penance  to  make  satisfaction  to  the  divine 
Majesty  for  the  sins  of  his  fellow  men,  and  thus  to  appease 
His  justice  and  obtain  peace.  He  invited  all  the  holy  and 
well-meaning  persons  of  his  acquaintance  to  do  likewise.  At 
Saint-Lazare,  when  the  internal  disorders  were  at  their 
height,  he  ordered  that  three  of  the  brethren — a  priest,  a 
cleric  and  a  lay  brother — fast  each  day  in  reparation  for 
sin ;  moreover,  that  the  priest  celebrate  Mass  and  the  other 
two  receive  Holy  Communion  for  the  same  intention.  He 
took  his  turn  with  the  others  in  spite  of  his  weakness  and 
advanced  age.14 

Even  individual  cases  of  poverty  he  was  wont  to  regard 
as  the  immediate  results  of  sin.  Speaking  one  day  to  his 
assembled  confreres,  he  told  them  how  the  holy  life  and  good 

12  Abelly,  ii.,  253. 

13  Ibid.,  288-9. 

14  This  same  conviction  had  a  further  and  a  more  far-reaching  influence 
on  his  actions.  United  with  his  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  souls,  the  thought  that  sin  is  the  basic  and  principal  cause  of  human 
misery,  material  as  well  as  spiritual,  inspired  him  with  a  holy  enthusiasm 
and  an  indomitable  courage  to  continue  his  works  which  were  immediately 
directed  toward  the  extirpation  of  sin ;  namely,  his  missionary  and  educa¬ 
tional  efforts  and,  what  were  intimately  connected  with  the  former,  his 
efforts  for  the  reform  of  the  clergy.  It  may  well  be  that  even  the  begin¬ 
nings  of  these  works  were  inspired  by  the  same  thought,  but  it  is  not  evident 
that  he  had  such  clear  ideas  on  the  subject  so  early  in  his  career. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


77 


works  of  parents  frequently  merit  God’s  graces  and  bless¬ 
ings  for  their  children;  “on  the  other  hand,”  he  continued, 
“there  are  persons,  a  man  and  wife,  who  are  honest,  who 
lead  good  lives  and,  nevertheless,  everything  slips  away  from 
them,  they  succeed  in  nothing;  and  whence  does  this  come? 
The  punishment  of  God  which  their  parents  have  merited 
for  some  grave  fault  they  committed,  passes  on  to  their  chil¬ 
dren,  as  is  written :  God  will  chastise  the  sinner  in  his  chil¬ 
dren  to  the  seventh  generation.”15 

We  must  not  infer  from  this,  however,  that  St.  Vincent 
looked  upon  all  cases  of  poverty  as  a  punishment  for  sin.  He 
himself  forbids  such  an  inference  when  he  says:  “I  do  not 
wish  to  say  that  those  who  are  comfortably  situated  are  just, 
or  that  all  those  who  are  in  need  are  unjust,  since  by  the 
providence  of  God  it  frequently  happens  that  the  wicked  en¬ 
joy  prosperity  while  the  just  suffer  adversity.”16 

Equally  false  would  be  the  inference  that  St.  Vincent 
held,  either  in  theory  or  practice,  that  poverty  should  not 
be  alleviated  but  that  the  judgments  of  God  should  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  take  their  course.  His  whole  active  career  belies 
such  a  conclusion.  The  conviction  that  poverty  and  adver¬ 
sity  in  general,  are  a  punishment  for  sin,  did  not,  therefore, 
keep  him  from  alleviating  it,  but  it  did  impel  him  to  labor 
assiduously  for  the  removal  of  the  cause,  i.  e.,  for  the  extir¬ 
pation  of  sin. 

We  see  here  that  Vincent  reduces  the  whole  complex  of 
social  disorders  and  social  problems  to  their  last  cause  and 
there  applies  the  remedy.  The  question  suggests  itself:  Was 
this  his  usual  mode  of  procedure?  Was  he  as  careful  in 
applying  the  remedy  to  the  intermediate  and  more  proximate 
causes  of  an  evil,  or  was  he  influenced  here,  too,  by  his  usual 
conservatism  ?  In  other  words,  did  he  content  himself  with 
the  endeavor  to  ameliorate  the  lot  of  the  victims  of  adversity 
and  misfortune,  or  did  he  usually  aim  at  staying  the  social 
forces  and  social  processes  that  were  immediately  responsible 
for  them  ? 

It  is  certain  that  St.  Vincent’s  practical  mind  was  prone 
to  adopt  the  latter  course.  There  was  some  difficulty  with 


15  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  258,  No.  81,  Nov.  25,  1657 

16  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  423,  No.  37,  Nov.  28,  1649. 


78 


THE  CHARITIES 


a  community  of  women;  he  wrote  to  Mile,  le  Gras  concern¬ 
ing  it :  “It  is  necessary  to  ascertain  gently  the  source  of  the 
evil  and  advise  the  remedies.”17'  We  have  seen  how  he  con¬ 
sidered  submission  to  civil  authority  fundamentally  essential 
to  the  material  well-being  of  the  people  and  how  he  strove  in 
consequence  to  promote  it.  In  his  religious  reform,  he  very 
soon  became  aware  that,  if  his  missionary  endeavors  were 
to  effect  abiding  results  on  the  morals  of  the  people,  the 
clergy  must  first  be  reformed.  He  saw,  too,  the  futility  of 
attempting  the  reform  of  the  older  clergy  who  had  become 
settled  in  their  ways ;  he  must  set  to  work  at  an  earlier  period 
of  their  lives  when  their  minds  and  characters  are  still 
pliable.  Hence  he  conceived  the  idea  of  establishing 
ecclesiastical  seminaries  for  the  training  of  worthy  candi¬ 
dates  for  the  priesthood.  He  himself  said  on  this  point  to 
the  members  of  his  Congregation :  “We  never  would  have 
undertaken  the  work  of  ordinations  and  ecclesiastical  semi¬ 
naries  if  we  had  not  judged  it  necessary  to  maintain  the 
people  and  to  conserve  the  fruit  produced  by  the  missions, 
imitating  in  this  respect  the  great  conquerors  who  leave 
garrisons  in  the  places  they  have  taken  for  fear  of  losing 
what  they  have  taken  with  so  much  labor.”ls 

To  rid  society  permanently  of  the  burden  of  the  profes¬ 
sional  tramp  and  beggar  the  young  must  early  learn  to  gain 
an  honest  livelihood ;  they  must  learn  a  trade.  St.  Vincent, 
therefore,  fostered  and  promoted  industrial  training  among 
the  poor  boys.  The  crops  had  been  destroyed  and  the  farms 
devastated  by  the  raids  of  the  soldiers.  The  peasants  were 
reduced  to  extreme  poverty  and  hunger,  with  scanty  hopes 
of  improving  their  condition  the  following  year.  St.  Vincent 
procured  for  them  seeds  and  implements.  The  wars  and  the 
consequent  general  unrest  were  a  fruitful  source  of  illegiti¬ 
macy;  St.  Vincent  endeavored  to  afford  protection  and 
shelter  to  girls  who  were  in  danger  of  being  robbed  by  vio¬ 
lence  of  their  virtue,  or  who,  driven  by  hunger,  were  willing 
to  sell  their  honor  for  a  pot  of  porridge. 

These  examples  are  ample  proof  of  the  conviction  of  St. 

17  Lett.,  i.„  93,  No.  84,  Oct.  29,  1634. 

18  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Metnbres  de  la  Congrcg.,  29-30,  No.  18,  Oct.  25, 
1643. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


79 


Vincent  that  the  true  cure  of  an  evil  is  its  prevention.  Still, 
from  the  evidence  on  record,  or,  possibly,  owing  to  the  lack 
of  all  the  evidence,  we  are  tempted  to  say  that  he  did  not 
in  all  cases  apply  the  remedy  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  He 
may  have  been  prevented  from  doing  so  by  unrecorded  cir¬ 
cumstances.  He  may,  too,  have  seen  the  futility  of  the 
attempt.  But,  whatever  the  reason,  the  fact  remains,  if  the 
records  are  complete.  He  did  not,  for  example,  attempt  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  unemployment  on  a  large  scale. 
Perhaps  he  was  aware  of  the  activities  of  Theophraste 
Renaudot19  in  this  field ;  but,  though  contemporaries,  there 
is  no  record  of  their  having  ever  met,  much  less  of  having 
cooperated  for  the  attainment  of  a  common  purpose.  He 
provided  for  the  burial  of  the  dead  and  for  the  removal  of 
filth  in  the  war-stricken  provinces  of  the  North  and  on  the 
battle  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  Paris ;  but  as  far  as  we  know 
he  did  not  labor  in  the  city  for  the  improvement  of  housing 
conditions  among  the  poor  nor  for  the  general  betterment 
of  sanitary  conditions. 


19  French  physician  and  philanthropist,  born  at  Loudun,  1586.  He  studied 
surgery  in  Paris  and  in  1606  received  the  doctor’s  degree  at  Montpellier.  In 
1612  he  was  summoned  to  Paris  by  Richelieu  because  of  his  medical  reputa¬ 
tion  and  his  philanthropy.  He  was  named  physician  in  ordinary  to  the  King 
and  was  asked  to  organize  a  plan  of  public  assistance.  In  1617  he  obtained 
the  privilege  of  opening  an  intelligence  office  which  served  as  an  employ¬ 
ment  bureau  and  as  a  place  where  the  poor  might  make  known  their  needs 
and  where  charitable  persons  might  learn  the  names  and  needs  of  deserving 
poor.  In  1618  he  received  the  title  of  commissioner  general  of  the  poor  of 
the  realm.  In  1628  he  joined  the  Catholic  Church.  He  now  added  to  his 
intelligence  office,  a  pawnshop  and  an  auction  house.  Under  the  protection 
of  Richelieu,  he  established  the  first  French  newspaper,  the  Gazette  (1631), 
which  appeared  weekly  and  contained  political  and  foreign  news  and  a 
catalogue  of  goods  for  sale — the  first  attempt  to  combine  advertising  and 
news  items.  In  1637  he  opened  in  Paris  the  first  Mons  Pietatis,  an  institu¬ 
tion  widespread  in  Italy,  which  enabled  the  poor  to  borrow  money  at  a 
nominal  rate  of  interest.  He  also  established  a  free  dispensary,  which  was 
in  itself  nothing  new  in  the  field  of  charity  ( Cf v.g.,  Lallemand,  iv.,  Part 
II.,  379),  and  a  consultation  charitable,  where,  in  concert  with  fifteen  other 
physicians,  free  medical  advice  was  given.  In  1640  the  medical  faculty 
launched  an  organized  campaign  of  opposition  against  the  “medical  heretic 
of  Montpellier.”  After  the  death  of  his  patrons,  Richelieu  and  Louis  XIII, 
the  Parliament  revoked  the  letters  patent  for  his  intelligence  office  and  his 
Mons  Pietatis,  and  forbade  him  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Paris.  The 
Gazette  continued;  and  in  1646  he  was  appointed  historiographer  to  the  king 
by  Mazarin.  He  died  Oct.  25,  1653.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  relief  work,  jour¬ 
nalism  and  medicine.  Cf.  Eugene  Hatin,  Theophraste  Renaudot,  Paris, 
1883;  Gilles  de  la  Tourette,  Theophraste  Renaudot  d’apres  des  documents 
inedits,  Paris,  1884;  Idem  La  vie  et  les  oeuvres  de  Theophraste  Renaudot 
fondateur  des  consultations  charitables ,  Paris,  1892. 


80 


THE  CHARITIES 


St.  Vincent  did  not  aim  at  the  total  elimination  of 
poverty,  nor  will  his  principles  lead  to  such  a  result.  It  was 
his  endeavor  merely  to  fulfil,  as  he  expressed  it,  “the  com¬ 
mandment  which  God  gives  us  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy,  viz.,  to  see  to  it  that  we  have  no  poor  amongst 
us  who  beg.”20 

20  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  dc  Paul  (Snppl.),  428,  St.  Vincent’s  words 
are  evidently  an  adaptation  of  Deuter.  15.4:  “And  there  shall  be  no  poor 
nor  beggar  among  you.” 


CHAPTER  IV 


Charity 

Active  charity,  as  taught  by  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  and 
exemplified  in  his  life,  was  not  something  merely  superficial 
or  accidental  in  the  practical  life  of  a  Christian,  but  an  in¬ 
tegral,  organic  part  of  Christian  teaching  and  the  necessary 
expression  of  a  lively  faith.  The  charity  he  preached  and 
practised  was  the  charity  of  the  Gospel,  ‘The  charity  which 
consists  not  only  in  the  love  of  God  but  also  in  that  of  one’s 
neighbor  and  particularly  of  the  poor,”  the  charity  which 
“cannot  remain  inactive,”  which  “does  not  permit  us  to  see 
our  brethren  or  our  friends  in  spiritual  or  corporal  need  with¬ 
out  manifesting  our  love  towards  them,”  the  charity,  in  a 
word,  which  the  Son  of  God  came  “to  establish  in  us  and 
among  us  by  His  example  and  by  His  teaching.”1 

“He  who  loves  his  neighbors,”  he  told  the  Ladies  of 
Charity,  “has  observed  the  full  law.”2  “Give  me  a  man,” 
he  said  to  the  members  of  his  Congregation,  “who  loves  God 
alone,  a  soul  who,  wrapt  in  contemplation,  does  not  consider 
his  neighbor,  but  who,  finding  a  very  great  pleasure  in  this 
manner  of  serving  God  Who  alone  appears  amiable  to  him, 
stops  to  enjoy  this  infinite  source  of  sweetness;  and  (give 
me)  another  who  unites  love  of  neighbor  with  that  of  God, 
no  matter  how  rough  and  rude  he  be,  and  tell  me,  I  pray  you, 
which  is  the  purest  of  these  two  loves  ?  Without  doubt,  that 
of  the  latter,  for  he  fulfils  the  law  more  perfectly  than  the 
former;  he  loves  God  and  his  neighbor — what  more  can  he 
do? — while  the  former  loves  only  God.  We  ought  then  to 
give  ourselves  to  God  in  order  that  He  impress  these  truths 
upon  our  souls,  that  He  direct  our  lives  according  to  this 
perfect  love  and  make  us  practise  its  works.”3 


1  Lett,  ct  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  294,  No.  2,  July  5,  1646; 
Azis  ct  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  474.  No.  107,  May  30,  1659. 

2  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  224,  No.  8.  1645. 

3  At  is  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  471,  No.  107,  May  30,  1659. 

81 


82 


THE  CHARITIES 


But  Vincent  is  more  emphatic  still  in  stressing  the  obli¬ 
gations  of  Christian  charity.  In  the  same  conference  to  his 
brethren,  he  said :  “Christians,  being  members  of  the  same 
body  and  members  of  one  another,  should  sympathize  among 
themselves.  Yes,  to  be  a  Christian  and  to  see  a  brother  in 
distress  and  not  weep  with  him  and  commiserate  with  his 
illness  is  to  be  devoid  of  charity,  is  to  be  a  Christian  in  ap¬ 
pearance  only,  is  to  be  without  humility,  is-to  be  worse  than 
the  brute  creation.”  It  is  true,  he  speaks  here  directly  only 
of  interior  sentiments  of  charity  and  not  of  works.  But  in 
perfect  accord  with  his  own  thoughts,  we  can  apply  the  above 
words  with  equal  reason  to  charitable  works;  for  he  says 
further  in  the  same  conference:  “It  is  not  sufficient  to  have 
charity  in  one’s  heart  and  express  it  in  words ;  it  must  pass 
into  action  and  into  actual  and  true  expression,  even  to  the 
giving  of  one’s  life,  if  necessary,  as  our  Lord  gave  His.”4 5 6 

St.  Vincent  further  shows  the  importance  of  active 
charity  by  giving  it  precedence  over  other  virtues  and  good 
works  and  by  considering  it  even  the  compendium  of  all  vir¬ 
tue.  “O  my  Sisters,”  he  writes,  “how  good  it  is  not  to  do 
anything  but  to  exercise  charity !  This  is  to  practise  all  the 
virtues  together.”"’  He  begged  our  Divine  Savior  to  give 
him  and  his  confreres  the  disposition  to  be  ready  at  all  times 
“to  lay  aside  all  other  occupation  in  order  to  exercise  the 
works  of  charity.”0  He  frequently  made  practical  applica¬ 
tion  of  this  principle  in  his  conferences  to  his  Daughters  of 
Charity.  He  insisted  on  uniformity  in  the  observance  of 
their  rule ;  still  he  was  ever  ready  that  an  exception  be  made, 
when  necessary,  in  favor  of  charity,  for,  as  he  himself  says, 
“charity  is  above  all  the  rules  and  all  things  must  yield  to 
it.”7  He  told  one  of  the  Sisters  to  omit  the  spiritual  retreat 
if  it  interfered  with  the  care  of  the  sick,  for  “the  practice  of 
charity,  when  it  is  necessary,  as  that  of  assisting  the  suffer¬ 
ing  members  of  our  Lord,  is  preferable  to  any  other  exer¬ 
cise.”8  He  told  another  not  to  be  uneasy  if  the  care  of  the 

4  Ibid.,  480,  482. 

5  Lett.,  iv.,  490,  No.  1965,  To  Sr.  Nicolle  Haran  at  Nantes,  Nov.  8,  1659. 

6  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Metnbres  de  la  Congreg.,  484,  No.  107,  May  30, 
i659- 

7  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  505-6,  No.  92,  Oct.  6,  1658. 

8  Lett.,  iii.,  593,  No.  1490,  To  Sr.  Francoise  Mesnage  at  Nantes,  Sept. 

29.  1657- 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


83 


poor  prevented  her  from  hearing  Mass,  “for  God  prefers 
mercy  to  sacrifice.”0  To  quit  prayer  in  order  to  go  on  an 
errand  of  charity  is,  he  says,  “to  quit  God  for  God.”10 

St.  Vincent  makes  numerous  other  statements  to  the 
same  effect  throughout  his  conferences  to  his  Daughters  of 
Charity.* 11  He  sums  up  his  general  attitude  on  the  point 
when  he  writes  in  one  of  his  letters:  “Do  not  worry  if  your 
work  hinders  you  from  being  exact  in  your  prayers  and  in 
the  observance  of  the  rules,  because  you  must  lay  aside  all 
things  for  charity  since  it  is  the  queen  of  virtues ;  but  when 
it  permits  you  to  observe  the  rule  without  prejudice  to  the 
care  of  the  sick,  you  must  do  so  in  order  to  render  yourself 
more  pleasing  to  God  and,  in  consequence,  more  fit  to  work 
for  the  salvation  and  the  relief  of  the  poor.”12 

But,  withal,  the  charity  of  St.  Vincent  was  well  regu¬ 
lated  both  in  itself  and  in  its  relation  to  the  other  virtues. 
In  the  first  place,  charity  was  not  to  be  overdone.  “There  is 
no  charity,”  he  writes,  “.  .  .  which  permits  us  to  undertake 
more  than  we  can  reasonably  accomplish.”13  He  cautions 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  to  use  prudent  moderation  in  entering 
new  fields  of  work,  otherwise  “one  allows  the  most  useful  to 
perish  and  finally  all  come  to  naught.”14  Secondly,  when  he 
was  obliged  to  choose,  for  example,  between  charity  and  jus¬ 
tice,  he  chose  the  latter,  as  the  moral  order  demands.  He 


9  Lett.,  iv.,  9,  No.  1586,  To  Sr.  Nicolle  Haran  at  Nantes,  Jan.  16,  1658. 

10  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  506,  No.  92,  Oct.  6.  1658. 

11  Cf.,  v.g.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  5,  33,  41,  63,  72-3, 
186.  274,  281-2,  373.  632;  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  169,  190,  312,  505,  520-1.  He 
urges  them  not  to  scruple  to  omit  their  usual  prayers,  to  absent  themselves 
from  the  community  morning  prayers  and  from  sermons  and  spiritual 
conferences,  and  to  remain  away  from  Mass,  even  on  Sundays  and  holy 
days,  when  the  care  of  the  sick  demands  it ;  in  a  word,  they  are  not  to 
consider  themselves  hampered  in  the  necessary  care  of  the  sick  by  any 
point  of  their  rule.  In  fact  the  rule  itself  demands  that  “they  ought  to 
postpone”  their  spiritual  exercises  “in  favor  of  the  necessary  assistance  of 
the  poor  sick”  ( Regies  Communes,  chap,  vii.,  art.  1).  And  the  special  rule, 
drawn  up  for  the  Sisters  of  the  Parishes,  calls  their  particular  attention  to 
the  fact  that  they  are  “to  prefer  the  service  of  the  poor  sick  to  any  other 
exercise,  be  it  corporal  or  spiritual,  and  not  to  scruple  to  encroach  upon, 
or  to  defer,  all  for  it,  provided  it  be  the  pressing  need  of  the  sick  and  not 
sloth  or  exterior  dissipation”  that  suggests  it  (Regies  Partieulieres  aux 
Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  chap,  xviii.,  art.  1). 

12  Lett.,  iv.,  281,  No.  1798,  To  Sr.  Nicolle  Haran  at  Nantes,  Feb.  12,  1659. 

13  Lett.,  i.,  317,  No.  292,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Toul,  June  17,  1640. 

14  Lett,  ct  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  214-6,  No.  6,  July  it, 
‘657. 


84 


THE  CHARITIES 


wrote  thus  to  one  of  the  brethren:  “As  regards  the  two 
thousand  livres  which  you  have  received  from  M.  de  Saint- 
Nicholas  for  the  religious  women,  in  the  name  of  God,  sir, 
do  not  divert  it  to  any  other  use  under  any  pretext  of  charity 
whatsoever.  There  is  no  charity  which  should  not  be  ac¬ 
companied  by  justice.”15  “The  duties  of  justice  are  pref¬ 
erable  to  those  of  charity,”  he  said  warning  Frere  Barreau 
to  employ  the  money  sent  him  only  in  accordance  with  the 
intentions  of  the  donors.16 

He  himself  relates  that  he  once  omitted  an  act  of  charity 
in  order  to  fulfil  a  promise  he  had  made,  though  by  so  doing 
he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  an  influential  person.  “Re¬ 
member  particularly  to  pray  to  God  for  me,”  he  says,  “who, 
finding  myself  yesterday  obliged  at  the  same  time  to  fulfil 
a  promise  I  had  made  and  to  perform  an  act  of  charity  to¬ 
wards  a  person  who  is  in  a  position  to  do  us  either  much 
good  or  much  harm,  and  not  being  able  to  satisfy  both,  I 
omitted  the  act  of  charity  to  keep  my  promise,  for  which 
this  person  is  still  very  discontented.”17  Charity  must  also 
be  subject  to  obedience.  He  instructs  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  never  to  receive  the  sick  contrary  to  the  orders  of 
the  Ladies  of  Charity.18 

The  right  of  private  property  did  not  mean  the  right  of 
absolute  ownership  to  the  mind  of  St.  Vincent.  Material 
prosperity  carried  with  it  duties  and  responsibilities  toward 
those  less  blessed  with  the  goods  of  this  world.  That  he 
was  clearly  conscious  of  these  obligations  cannot  be  doubted. 
His  employment  of  the  wealthy  in  the  service  and  relief  of 
the  sick  and  poor  is  practical  proof  thereof.  Moreover,  in 
his  sketches  for  conferences  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  we 
twice  find  the  words:  Si  non  pavisti,  occidisti  [If  you  have 
not  fed,  you  have  killed].19  He  is  appealing  to  them  for 
money  in  behalf  of  the  foundlings.  These,  he  says,  are  in 

15  Lett.,  i.,  316-7,  No.  292,  M.  du  Coudray  at  Toul,  June  17,  1640. 

16  Lett.,  iv.,  386,  No.  1872,  June  27,  1659,  To  Frere  Barreau  in  Algiers, 
a  member  of  the  Congregation,  appointed  Consul  of  Algiers  through  the 
intervention  of  St.  Vincent  in  order  to  be  in  a  position  to  render  some  little 
assistance  to  the  Christian  captives. 

17  Abelly,  iii.,  357. 

18  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  319. 

19  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  657;  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de 
Paul  (Suppl.),  218,  No.  7. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


85 


extreme  necessity  because  they  have  been  abandoned  by 
father  and  mother.  Hence  arises  the  strict  moral  obligation 
to  come  to  their  assistance,  for,  he  continues  in  explanation 
of  the  above  words,  “one  can  kill  a  poor  child  in  two  ways : 
either  by  a  violent  death,  or  by  refusing  to  give  it  nourish¬ 
ment. ” 

He  is  less  clear  in  assigning  the  particular  reason  or 
motive  from  which  spring  the  obligations  of  riches.  He 
does  not,  however,  denounce  the  rich  and  their  possessions 
in  bitter  terms,20  nor  does  he  advocate  the  adoption  of  any 
economic  principle  that  would  eventually  result  in  a  more 
just  and  equal  distribution  of  wealth.  The  former  method 
of  procedure  would  have  been  contrary  to  his  character,  the 
latter  foreign  to  his  sphere  of  activity.  Nor  do  extant  rec¬ 
ords  reveal  that  he  even  urged  directly  and  explicitly  the 
Christian  concept  of  the  stewardship  of  property.21  He 
seems,  in  fact,  not  to  have  had  any  particular  or  distinctive 
reason  on  which  he  based  the  obligations  of  wealth ;  no  rea¬ 
son  which  could  not  be  applied  to  the  other  obligations  of 
charity  as  well.22  On  the  one  hand,  he  beheld  the  need  and 
suffering  of  the  people;  on  the  other,  he  enjoyed  the  favor 
of  many  who  were  able  to  furnish  means  toward  the  relief 
of  this  misery.  These,  then,  he  approached  with  the  appeals 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  were  likely  to  be  the  most 
efficacious. 

As  is  seen  from  his  conferences  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity, 
his  appeals  were  partly  natural  and  partly  supernatural. 


20  He  savs,  it  is  true,  that  the  world  is  too  much  engrossed  in  the  mate¬ 
rial,  and  recalls  our  Savior’s  teaching  regarding  the  spiritual  dangers  of 
material  riches — Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  113-4,  No.  63,  Nov.  2, 
1655;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  535-6,  No.  114,  Aug.  31, 
1659;  Ibid.,  546-8,  No.  1 15,  Sept.  2,  1659.  But  these  words  are  addressed 
to  the  members  of  his  Congregation  and  to  his  Daughters  of  Charity,  when 
explaining  to  them  the  poverty  which  they  should  practice  in  conformity 
with  their  vows  and  their  state  of  life. 

21  He  applies  the  term  but  once,  and,  in  doing  so,  he  is  addressing,  not 
the  rich,  but  the  members  of  his  Congregation,  and  is  speaking,  not  of 
worldly  possessions  in  general,  but  of  religious  houses  whose  temporalities 
are  especially  destined  for  the  use  of  the  poor.  Avis  et  Confer  aux 
Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  629,  No.  125. 

22  He  calls  the  Ladies  of  Charity  “the  Mothers  of  the  Poor”  on  one  oc¬ 
casion  (Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  214,  No.  6,  July  11, 
165 7),  but  it  is  not  clear  from  the  context  whether  he  applies  this  term  to 
them  because  of  their  wealth,  and  hence  indirectly  to  all  similarly  situated, 
or  because  of  their  special  choice  and  pledge  to  assist  the  poor. 


86 


THE  CHARITIES 


He  made  a  strong  and  effectual  appeal  to  their  maternal 
instincts  in  behalf  of  the  foundlings.23  He  appealed  to  their 
national  pride  by  telling  them  not  to  countenance  in  Paris 
a  practice  they  justly  censured  among  the  Turks — the  sale 
of  human  beings.24  He  appealed  to  their  religious  pride 
by  urging  them  to  free  the  Church  of  the  cruelty  of  which 
Herod  made  himself  guilty.23  He  appealed  to  their  pride 
again  by  telling  them  of  the  raillery  to  which  they  would 
expose  themselves  should  they  discontinue  an  undertaking.26 
He  appealed  to  their  selfishness  by  recalling  the  words  of 
Sacred  Scripture  that  one  who  practises  charity  will  himself 
never  be  reduced  to  indigence.  He  also  dwelt  on  the  pleasure 
and  honor  accruing  to  them  from  almsgiving,  and  insinuated 
the  sacredness  of  human  life.27 

As  supernatural  motives,  he  assured  the  Ladies  of  Char¬ 
ity  that  their  work  had  been  inspired  by  God  and  was  the 
continuation  of  our  Savior’s  activities  during  His  mortal 
life;  hence  they  should  devote  themselves  to  it  with  joy  and 
enthusiasm,  and  not  permit  it  to  come  to  naught.28  He  told 
them,  too,  that  material  relief  often  paves  the  way  for  the 
eternal  salvation  of  the  poor.29  And,  finally,  he  recalled  the 
reward  awaiting  those  to  whom  Christ  will  be  able  to  say 
on  Judgment  Day:  “Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  .  .  . 
for  I  was  hungry  and  you  gave  Me  to  eat,  etc.,”  and,  as  the 
counterpart,  he  told  them :  “One  can  lose  heaven  by  sins  of 
omission  as  well  as  commission,  and  because  of  omitting  to 
assist  the  poor  it  will  be  said,  ‘Depart,  ye  cursed  V  ”30 


23  Abelly,  i.,  210,  and  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi.),  200, 
No.  5,  an.  1648. 

24  Ibid.,  219,  No.  7,  III.  He  refers  to  the  abuse  at  Paris  of  selling  the 
foundlings  for  a  paltry  sum — 8,  20,  or  30  sous. 

25  The  Massacre  of  the  Infants.  Ibid.,  IV. 

26  Ibid.,  223,  No.  8,  an.  1645. 

27  Ibid.,  204,  No.  6;  224,  No.  8;  231,  No.  11. 

28  Abelly,  ii.,  472-5;  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  207-10, 
No.  6;  Ibid.,  219,  V.,  No.  7,  an.  1638;  Ibid.,  232,  No.  12. 

29  Abelly,  ii.,  467;  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  202-03, 
No.  6,  July  it,  1657. 

30  Abelly,  ii.,  470;  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  205, 
No.  6,  July  11,  1657;  cf •  also  Ibid.,  223-4,  No.  8,  1645  and  230-1,  No.  11. 


SECTION  II 


The  Principles  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Social 

Service 

We  look  in  vain  in  the  correspondence  and  conferences 
of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  for  a  definite  set  of  concisely  formu¬ 
lated  principles  of  social  service.  We  should,  in  fact,  be 
surprised  to  find  them,  knowing  as  we  do,  the  eminently 
practical  bent  of  his  mind.  Still  the  study  of  his  words  and 
works  reveals  certain  convictions  which  guided  him  in  the 
various  phases  of  relief.  These  convictions  I  take  the  liberty 
of  calling  his  principles  in  social  service.  I  have  endeavored 
to  group  them  around  their  respective  heads  for  the  sake 
of  clearness,  while  at  the  same  time  submitting  each  to  a 
complete  critical  study. 


87 


CHAPTER  I 


The  Service  of  the  Poor 

1.  The  Supernatural  in  Social  Service 

Vincent  de  Paul  was  a  man  of  great  personal  sanctity. 
The  supernatural  permeated  his  soul  and  motivated  his 
actions  in  an  extraordinary  degree.  He  saw  with  the  eyes 
of  faith;  he  acted  from  motives  of  faith.  In  ail  his  deeds 
he  was  distinctly  conscious  of  a  supernatural  end — the  glory 
of  God,  the  sanctification  and  salvation  of  his  own  soul  and 
that  of  his  neighbor.  Hence  also  the  supernatural  exer¬ 
cised  a  direct  and  distinct  influence  on  his  social  activities. 

In  the  first  place,  he  based  his  work  on  the  teachings 
of  the  Gospel  and  looked  upon  the  aggregate  of  his  activities 
as  the  continuation  of  our  Savior’s  public  ministry.  He 
explained  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (Mt.  v,  vi,  vii)  to  his 
brethren  and  told  them  that  therein  were  contained  the 
principles  and  maxims  they  had  pledged  themselves  to  ob¬ 
serve  and  practice  in  the  work  of  their  own  sanctification 
and  in  the  service  of  their  neighbor.1  “All  the  points  of 
the  rule,”  he  assures  them  again,  “are  taken  from  the  Gos¬ 
pel  ;  .  .  .  they  all  tend  to  conform  our  conduct  to  that  of 
Jesus  Christ.”2 

“I  cannot  refrain  from  ever  contemplating  this  proto¬ 
type  of  charity”  (i.  e.,  Christ),  he  said  in  one  of  his  confer¬ 
ences.3  And  this  contemplation  did  not  remain  within  the 
realms  of  thought  and  meditation,  but  manifested  itself  in 
a  definite  and  conscious  endeavor  to  imitate  the  Prototype 
and  to  continue  His  mission  of  charity.  “The  purpose  of  the 

- —  ^1122 

1  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  343-9,  No.  96,  Feb.  14, 
1659;  cf.  also  Ibid.,  510,  No.  112,  Aug.  22,  1659;  522,  No.  113,  Aug.  29,  1659. 

2  Avis  et  Confer  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  262,  No.  82,  May  17,  1658; 
cf.  also  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  269,  No.  25,  May  30,  1647;  Ibid. 
it,  442,  No.  87,  May  30,  1658. 

3  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  479,  No.  107,  May  30,  1659. 

89 


90 


THE  CHARITIES 


Company/’  he  says,  “is  to  imitate  our  Lord  in  as  far  as 
poor  and  wretched  persons  can  do  so.  .  .  .  We  must  strive 
to  conform  our  thoughts,  our  works  and  our  intentions  to 
His/’4  And  in  the  course  of  the  same  conference,  he  con¬ 
tinues  to  draw  a  comparison  between  the  mission  activities 
of  Christ  and  those  of  his  Congregation.  “To  be  true 
Daughters  of  Charity,”  he  says  again,  “you  must  do  what 
the  Son  of  God  did  upon  earth.  And  what  did  He  do  espe¬ 
cially?  .  .  .  He  labored  continually  for  fellow  man,  visiting 
and  curing  the  sick  and  instructing  the  poor  for  their  salva¬ 
tion.”5  His  conferences  to  the  Daughters  and  Ladies  of 
Charity  abound  in  similar  expressions.6 

Since  the  practice  of  charity  was,  in  the  estimation  of 
Vincent  de  Paul,  the  continuation  of  our  Saviour’s  mission, 
he  necessarily  considered  it  a  sublime  and  holy  vocation. 
And,  indeed,  he  seems  never  to  have  tired  in  extolling  its 
dignity  and  sanctity.  “This  state  (the  life  of  a  Daughter 
of  Charity),  my  dear  Sisters-,  is  so  great,”  he  writes  in  one 
of  his  letters,  “that  human  understanding  is  unable  to  con¬ 
ceive  anything  greater  in  a  poor  creature  upon  earth.”7 
“What  is  done  in  charity  is  done  for  God,”  “you  serve  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  person  of  the  poor,”  “we  ought  to  consider  the 
poor  as  our  lords  and  masters,”  “the  service  of  the  poor  is 
a  divine  and  honorable  calling,” — these  and  similar  expres¬ 
sions  are  found  dispersed  throughout  his  letters  and 
conferences.8 

As  the  natural  sequel  to  this  view,  St.  Vincent  demanded 
a  virtuous  life  of  those  who  were  engaged  in  active  charity 
under  his  direction.  In  all  his  constitutions  we  find  special 
provisions,  to  this  effect.  In  the  regulations  for  the  con¬ 
ference  of  charity  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes,9  for  example, 
we  read  :  “The  confraternity  shall  be  composed  of  women  .  .  . 


4  Avis  et  Confer.  aux'Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  306,  No.  94,  Dec.  6,  1658. 

5  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  15,  No.  2,  July  5,  1640. 

6  V.g.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  520;  Ibid,  ii.,  95,  97,  101,  165, 
189;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  210,  213,  230,  233,  240. 

7  Lett.,  ii.,  29,  No.  546,  To  the  Daughters  of  Charity  at  Nantes,  Apr. 
24,  1647. 

8  V.g.,  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  186,  No.  61,  Mar.  16, 
1656;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  215,  No.  21,  Feb.  13,  1646;  Ibid.,  217, 
No.  21,  Feb.  13,  1646;  Ibid.,  601.  No.  51,  May  25,  1654. 

9  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  387,  sqq. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


91 


of  known  piety  and  virtue  and  the  women  chosen  to  remain 
with  the  bedridden  sick  shall  be  “ of  a  virtuous  life  and 
ivomen  of  devotion”  The  same  regulations  prescribe  the 
spiritual  exercises  for  the  monthly  meetings  and  for  the 
daily  life  of  the  individual  members.  They  are  instructed  to 
recite  a  specified  morning  and  evening  prayer,  to  attend 
Mass  daily  if  possible,  to  read  daily  a  chapter  of  St.  Francis 
de  Sales’  Philothea,  to  walk  constantly  in  the  presence  of 
God,  to  practise  humility,  charity  and  simplicity  towards  all, 
and  to  receive  the  sacraments  four  times  a  year.  One  consti¬ 
tution  of  unknown  date  urges  the  lady  whose  turn  it  is  to 
serve  the  sick  “to  attend  Mass  and  receive  the  sacraments 
of  Penance  and  Holy  Eucharist,  or,  at  least,  to  make  an  act 
of  contrition,”  before  entering  upon  her  duties  for  the  day.10 
In  the  beginning,  at  least,  St.  Vincent  excluded  from  mem¬ 
bership  those  who  “frequented  the  show,  the  comedy  and 
other  dangerous  pastimes.”* 11  Throughout  his  conferences 
for  the  Ladies  as  well  as  for  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  he 
proposes  motives  for  striving  after  higher  perfection 
together  with  the  means  of  attaining  it. 

The  influence  of  the  supernatural  is  also  seen  to  affect 
the  motive  which  St.  Vincent  insisted  upon  in  the  practice 
of  charity.  He  did  not  ignore  the  natural  but  he  persistently 
urged  the  supernatural. 

'  The  fundamental  motive  that  he  repeats  again  and  again 
to  his  Daughters  of  Charity  is  the  consideration  that  they 
have  been  destined  to  serve  our  Savior  corporally  and 
spiritually  in  the  person  of  the  poor  sick.  Their  love  for 
God  must  impel  them  to  perform  their  duties  of  charity 
faithfully,  regardless  of  the  praise  and  blame  of  men  and 
in  spite  of  natural  disgust  and  repugnance.12  Another 
motive  that  he  frequently  recalls  is  the  thought  that  a  life 
of  charity  is  the  best  preparation  for  a  happy  death.  “We 


10  Ibid.,  385.  Whatever  the  reason,  the  constitutions  drafted  for  the 
confraternities  of  both  men  and  women,  are  less  explicit  in  prescribing 
spiritual  devotions  for  the  individual  members.-  They  are  merely  admon¬ 
ished  to  recite  five  Paters  and  Aves  daily  and  to  receive  the  Sacraments 
on  the  day  of  their  monthly  meetings.  Ibid.,  415,  425,  432. 

11  Ibid.,  211,  No.  6,  Conference  to  Ladies  of  Charity,  July  11,  1657. 

12 Confer .  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  556-7,  No.  47,  June  3,  1653;  Ibid., 
ii.,  615,  Regies  Particulieres,  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  X. 


92 


THE  CHARITIES 


cannot  better  assure  our  eternal  happiness,”  he  writes,  “than 
by  living  and  dying  in  the  service  of  the  poor.”13 

A  further  influence  of  the  supernatural  on  the  relief  work 
of  St.  Vincent  is  seen  in  the  importance  he  lays  on  caring 
for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  sick  and  poor.  This  feature  is 
given  equal  prominence  with  corporal  assistance  in  all  his 
relief  organizations.  The  principal  end  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity,  he  says  in  their  rule,  (Chap,  i,  No.  1),  “is  to  honor 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  source  and  model  of  all  charity 
by  serving  Him  corporally  and  spiritually  in  the  person  of 
the  poor.”14  “It  has  never  been  the  design  of  God  in  forming 
your  Company,”  he  tells  them,  “that  you  take  care  of  the 
body  only  .  .  . ;  but  it  is  the  intention  of  our  Lord  that  you 
assist  the  souls  of  the  poor  sick.”15  The  same  purpose  is 
expressed  in  the  constitutions  for  the  various  conferences 
of  charity. 

St.  Vincent  himself  determines  the  respective  extent  of 
the  corporal  and  the  spiritual  when  he  says  in  the  Common 
Constitution  for  Confraternities  of  Charity:  “.  .  .  cor¬ 
porally,  by  administering  to  them  their  drink  and  food  and 
the  necessary  medicines  during  the  time  of  their  sicknesses; 
and  spiritually  by  having  the  sacraments  of  Penance, 
Eucharist,  and  Extreme  Unction  administered  to  them,  and 
by  seeing  to  it  that  those  who  die  depart  this  life  well  pre¬ 
pared  and  that  those  who  recover  resolve  to  lead  a  good  life 
in  the  future.”18 

In  some  of  the  particular  constitutions  he  goes  into  detail 
on  this  point.  In  that  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  for  example, 
after  provision  has  been  made  for  immediate  relief,  the  lady 
on  duty  for  the  day  is  instructed  to  have  the  sick  person  “go 
to  Confession  in  preparation  for  Communion  on  the  morrow, 
because  it  is  the  intention  of  this  conference  that  those  who 
wish  to  be  assisted  by  it  go  to  Confession  and  receive  Com- 


13  Lett.,  ii.,  129,  No.  618,  To  Frere  Barreau  in  Algiers,  Dec.  4,  1648;  cf. 
also,  v.g.,  Ibid.,  i.,  90,_No.  81,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  (1634)  ;  Ibid.,  ii.,  538,  No.  955, 
To  a  Priest  of  the  Mission,  June  4,  1653;  Ibid.,  iii.,  551,  No.  1459,  To  M.  Get 
at  Marseilles,  Aug.  31,  1657. 

14  Common  Rule,  Ch.  i.,  art.  I.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  95. 
No.  62,  Oct.  18,  1655. 

15  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  314,  No.  79,  Nov.  11,  1657. 

16  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.) ,  409. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


93 


munion  before  all  else.”17  She  is  also  told  to  place  a  crucifix 
in  a  position  where  the  sick  person  can  see  it  “in  order  that, 
casting  his  eyes  upon  it  from  time  to  time,  he  may  consider 
what  the  Son  of  God  has  suffered  for  him.”  The  same  con¬ 
stitution  says  further:  “They  (the  Ladies)  shall  read  at 
times  some  pious  book  in  the  presence  of  those  who  are 
capable  of  deriving  profit  therefrom ;  they  shall  exhort  them 
to  bear  their  suffering  patiently  for  the  love  of  God  and  to 
believe  that  He  has  sent  it  to  them  for  their  greater  good; 
they  shall  have  them  make  an  act  of  contrition  .  .  .  and,  in 
case  their  sickness  becomes  worse,  they  shall  have  them  go 
to  Confession  as  soon  as  possible.  And  for  those  in  grave 
danger  of  death,  they  shall  take  care  to  notify  the  parish 
priest  that  he  administer  to  them  Extreme  Unction;  they 
shall  induce  them  to  place  their  entire  confidence  in  God, 
to  think  of  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  to 
recommend  themselves  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  angels 
and  the  saints  .  .  .”18 

The  Ladies  of  Charity  who  offered  their  services  for  the 
sick  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  Paris  devoted  much  of  their  time 
from  the  beginning  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  patients. 
In  his  constitution  for  industrial  training,  St.  Vincent  again 
emphasizes  the  spiritual  side  of  relief  work  by  laying  great 
stress  on  the  spiritual  training  of  the  children.  In  several 
of  his  constitutions  we  find  that  the  healthy  poor  that  receive 
alms  from  the  confraternity  are  obliged  to  attend  the 
catechetical  instructions  given  semiweekly,  weekly,  or 
biweekly,  as  the  case  may  be,  by  the  spiritual  director,  to 
attend  Mass  daily,  and  to  receive  the  sacraments  monthly.19 

In  view  of  the  prominence  given  to  spiritual  assistance 
in  the  works  of  St.  Vincent,  the  question  suggests  itself : 
What  was  its  relation  to  temporal  relief?  Was  it,  as  some 


17  The  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisscs  (Aug.  24,  1659) 
wish  that  the  sick  “go  to  Confession  the  first  or  second  day”  after  they 
begin  to  receive  relief.  Art.  II.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  610. 

18  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  391-4. 

19  Reglement  de  la  Charite  d’Hommes  a  Folleville,  Oct.  23,  1620;  Regle¬ 
ment  de  la  Confrerie  de  la  Charite  d’Hommes  et  de  Femmes  a  Courboing , 
June  19.  1 622;  Reglement  pour  une  Confrerie  de  Charite  d’Hommes  et  de 
Femmes  et  pour  V Organisation  d’une  Manufacture ;  Reglement  de  la  Con¬ 
frerie  de  la  Charite  de  la  Ville  de  Macon,  1 623.  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.), 
4I2-34- 


94 


THE  CHARITIES 


interpreters  of  the  Saint’s  life  and  works  would  have  us 
believe,  the  prime  purpose  of  his  relief  organizations,  for 
the  attainment  of  which  corporal  relief  served  but  as  the 
means?20 

It  is  true  St.  Vincent  says :  “To  labor  for  the  salvation 
of  the  poor  people  of  the  country  is  the  principal  duty  of  our 
vocation,  and  all  else  is  but  accessory.”21  But  he  is  here 
addressing  the  priests  of  the  Mission  whose  main  purpose 
is 'the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  poor;  and  the  accessories  to 
which  he  refers  are  the  seminaries  and  the  exercises  of  the 
candidates  for  the  priesthood. 

More  to  the  point  are  the  words  we  find  in  one  of  his 
conferences  to  his  Daughters  of  Charity.  “Be  then  very 
solicitous,”  he  says,  “to  give  them  (the  poor),  all  necessary 
assistance,  especially  that  which  regards  their  salvation  in 
order  that  they  do  not  die  without  the  sacraments.”22  As 
a  necessary  quality  in  one  to  hold  an  office  among  the 
Daughters  of  Charity,  he  enumerates  “a  great  zeal  for  the 
service  of  fellow  man  and  especially  for  the  salvation  of  the 
poor.”23  “When  you  go  to  see  the  sick,”  he  tells  the  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity,  “  (you  ought)  to  think  that  it  is  less  for  their 
bodies  that  you  give  relief  than  for  their  souls.”24  A 
Daughter  of  Charity  once  told  Saint  Vincent  the  care  of  the 
poor  sick  did  not  allow  her  time  to  learn  the  method  of 
giving  catechetical  instructions;  the  Saint  replied:  “The 
soul  must  be  preferred  to  the  body;  it  is  necessary  for  the 
Daughters  of  Charity  that  they  instruct  the  poor  in  the 

20  Abelly,  iii.,  138,  says:  “All  that  he  has  done  and  undertaken  has  been 
only  to  destroy  sin  and  to  procure  that  God  be  known,  served,  loved  and 
glorified  in  all  places  by  all  classes  of  people;  it  was  for  this  that  he  la¬ 
bored  50  much  in  the  missions,  established  so  many  conferences  and 
seminaries  brought  together  so  many  companies.”  That  self-sanctification 
might  be  the  prime  aim  of  his  workers  is  excluded  by  the  very  nature  of 
his  organizations.  He  himself  says  on  this  point  concerning  his  Daughters 
of  Charity:  “There  is  this  difference  between  them  and  religious  that  re¬ 
ligions  have  for  their  purpose  only  their  own  perfection,  but  these  girls 
devote  themselves  to  the  salvation  and  relief  of  fellow  man.”  Lett.,  iv., 
538,  No.  2007,  To  M.  de  la  Fosse,  a  priest  of  the  Mission  at  Troyes,  Feb. 
7,  1660. 

21  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Mcmbres  de  la  Congreg .,  29,  No.  18,  Repetition 
d’O raison  dn  25  Oct.  1643. 

22  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  i.,  5,  No.  1,  July  31,  1634. 

23  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  231,  No.  72,  May  22,  1657. 

2iIbid.,  612,  Explication  des  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Pa- 

roisses,  Art.  vi.,  Aug.  24,  1659. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


95 


things  necessary  for  their  salvation,  and  for  this  they  them¬ 
selves  must  first  be  instructed.”23 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  that  he  and  his  associa¬ 
tions  of  charity  administer  relief  also  when  there  is  little 
or  no  hope  or  occasion  of  benefiting  the  recipient  spiritually. 
The  condition  of  the  insane,  for  example,  almost  excluded 
any  such  hope.  The  extent  of  his  relief  work  in  the  devas¬ 
tated  provinces  allowed  but  little  opportunity  for  spiritual 
assistance  to  the  individual  victims.  But  little,  if  any, 
spiritual  relief  could  be  given  to  the  hundreds  that  came 
daily  to  the  doors  of  Saint-Lazare  for  alms  during  the 
Fronde.  The  Daughters  of  Charity,  sent  to  the  battlefields, 
were  evidently  commissioned  to  dress  the  wounds  of  the 
soldiers  as  their  first  duty. 

In  his  instructions  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity  who  were 
sent  to  Richelieu,  St.  Vincent  says :  ‘They  shall  try  to 
benefit  the  souls  while  they  administer  to  the  bodies  of  the 
poor.”26  Finally,  in  the  Particular  Rules  for  the  Sisters  of 
the  Parishes  we  read  :  “For  fear  lest  these  spiritual  services 
be  prejudicial  to  the  corporal  which  they  must  render  to  the 
sick,  as  would  happen  if,  by  tarrying  too  long  to  talk  to  one 
of  them,  they  would  make  the  others  suffer  because  not 
having  their  nourishment  or  medicines  at  the  proper  time, 
they  shall  endeavor  to  keep  well  within  bounds  in  this 
respect,  regulating  their  time  and  their  exercises  according 
as  the  number  and  the  need  of  the  sick  is  great  or  small. 
And  since  their  duties  of  the  afternoon  are  not  so  pressing 
as  those  of  the  morning,  they  should  ordinarily  employ  this 
time  to  instruct  and  admonish  them,  .  .  .  particularly  while 
they  are  rendering  to  them  the  other  necessary  services.”27 

In  the  face  of  this  evidence,  we  may  safely  conclude  that, 
while  both  the  corporal  and  the  spiritual  works  of  mercy  are 
incumbent  upon  the  relief  workers  of  St.  Vincent  in  virtue 
of  their  respective  rules,  the  prime  object  of  these  organiza¬ 
tions  and  the  first  duty  of  their  members  was  material  aid. 
But  the  workers  were  to  keep  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their 


25  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  572,  No.  99,  Explication  dcs  Regies 
Communes  (suite),  Dec.  8,  1658. 

26  Lett.,  i.,  368,  No.  324,  To  Mile,  le  Gras. 

27  Art.  vii.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  612-3. 


96 


THE  CHARITIES 


patients  ever  in  mind  and  administer  to  it  simultaneously 
with  material  relief  in  as  far  as  they  could  do  so  without 
prejudice  to  bodily  assistance  and  without  overtaxing  the 
condition  of  the  sick. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  ask  whether  or  not  the  super¬ 
natural  had  a  decidedly  salutary  influence  on  the  social 
activities  of  St.  Vincent  and  his  co-workers.  We  are 
compelled  to  answer  in  the  affirmative.  But  let  us  first 
permit  St.  Vincent  to  give  expression  to  his  own 
convictions. 

“Receive  Holy  Communion  frequently,”  he  once  told 
Mile,  le  Gras.  “The  Holy  Eucharist  is  the  oracle  of  char¬ 
itable  thoughts.”28  He  was  often  heard  to  say  that  nothing 
great  can  be  expected  from  one  who  does  not  love  prayer, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  says :  “Give  me  a  man  of  prayer 
and  he  will  be  capable  of  all  things.”29  “It  is  impossible  for 
a  Daughter  of  Charity  to  persevere  in  her  vocation,”  he 
says  in  one  of  his  conferences,  “unless  she  prays.  .  .  . 
Failing  to  partake  of  this  refreshment,  she  will  find  her 
employment  too  disagreeable;  she  will  become  disgusted 
with  her  state  and  finally  give  it  up  entirely.”30  A  Sister 
who  is  careless  in  her  prayers,  he  says  in  the  course  of  the 
same  conference,  shows  it,  among  other  ways,  by  her  lack 
of  cordiality  and  affability  towards  the  sick.  “In  order  that 
they  may  correspond  worthily  to  a  vocation  so  holy  and 
imitate  an  exemplar  so  perfect  (i.  e.,  Christ),”  we  read  in 
the  rule  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  “they  must  endeavor 
to  live  holily  and  work  with  great  care  for  their  own  perfec¬ 
tion.”31  He  recommends  personal  sanctification  to  the 
Ladies  of  Charity  as  the  first  means  of  success  in  their  vast 
undertakings.32  These  citations  suffice  to  indicate  St.  Vin- 

28  Abelly,  i.,  158,  n.  3. 

29  Ibid.,  80. 

30  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  360,  No.  32,  May  31,  1648.  Florence 
Nightingale  (English  Nurse,  1820-1910)  was  of  the  same  conviction.  She 
writes  :  “I  do  entirely  and  constantly  believe  that  the  religious  motive  is 
essential  for  the  highest  kind  of  nurse.  There  are  such  disappointments, 
such  sickenings  of  the  heart,  that  they  can  only  be  borne  by  the  feeling 
that  one  is  called  to  the  work  by  God,  that  it  is  a  part  of  His  work,  that  one 
is  a  fellow  worker  with  God.”  Cook,  Life  of  Florence  Nightingale,  ii.,  271. 

31  Chap,  i.,  art.  1,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  95,  No.  62,  Explica¬ 
tion  des  Regies  Communes,  Oct.  18,  1655. 

32  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  211,  No.  6,  July  11,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


97 


cent’s  conviction  that  the  supernatural  had  a  direct  and 
beneficial  influence  on  the  efficiency  of  men  and  women  en¬ 
gaged  in  the  service  of  the  needy. 

Moreover,  the  faith  that  impelled  St.  Vincent  to  say  that 
ecclesiastics  who  know  the  need  of  the  people  and  still 
remain  idle  are  “guilty  of  the  Blood  of  the  Son  of  God,”33  or, 
“I  have  fear  of  being  damned  myself  for  not  being  con¬ 
stantly  occupied  with  the  instruction  of  the  poor  people,”34 
must  have  encouraged  and  spurred  him  on  where  human 
and  natural  motives  were  powerless.  The  conviction  that 
the  poor  are  “our  lords  and  masters,”  that  what  we  do  for 
them  we  do  for  Christ  and  shall  be  rewarded  accordingly, 
or  that  a  life  of  charity  is  a  sublime  and  divine  calling,  evi¬ 
dently  influenced  the  attitude  of  St.  Vincent  and  his  workers 
towards  the  poor.  It  undoubtedly  served  as  a  powerful 
incentive  to  give  the  poor  and  sick  a  more  loving  and  more 
efficient  care  and  service.  St.  Vincent  himself  says :  “I 
ought  not  consider  a  poor  peasant  or  a  poor  woman  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  exterior  nor  according  to  the  degree  of  their 
intelligence,  since  very  often  they  scarcely  have  the  figure 
or  the  intelligence  of  reasonable  persons;  they  are  so  rude 
and  earthly.  But  turn  the  medal  and  you  will  see  by  the 
light  of  faith  that  the  Son  of  God,  who  wished  to  be  poor, 
is  represented  to  us  by  the  poor.  ...  0  God,  how  delightful 
to  behold  the  poor  if  we  consider  them  in  God  and  in  the 
esteem  in  which  Jesus  Christ  has  placed  them!  But  if  we 
regard  them  according  to  the  sentiments  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  earthly  mind,  they  will  appear  contemptible.”35 

2.  Free  Service 

All  the  works  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  were  organized  to 
meet  the  demands  of  some  particular  spiritual  or  temporal 
need.  And  St.  Vincent  was  solicitous  that  none,  standing 
in  need  of  the  aid  thus  proffered,  should  be  deterred  for 
financial  reasons  from  asking  and  receiving  it.  Hence  we 
find  that  in  almost  every  field  in  which  he  labored,  his 
services  and  those  of  his  coworkers  were  rendered  gratis. 


33  Lett.,  i.,  78,  No.  65,  July  9,  1633. 

34  Lett.,  i.,  43,  No.  30,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  Sept.  4,  1631 

35  Abelly,  iii.,  17. 


98 


THE  CHARITIES 


Charges  were  made,  however,  in  some  phases  of  his 
work.  Thus  a  moderate  sum  was  demanded  from  the 
students  at  some  of  the  seminaries.  He  instructs  one  of 
the  brethren  at  le  Mans  to  render  an  itemized  account  of  the 
current  expenses  of  the  seminary  there,  in  order  that  the 
bill  for  each  student  be  determined.  “It  is  not  expedient,” 
he  adds,  “that  the  house,  being  in  straits  as  it  is,  should 
furnish  the  board  of  these  young  men.”30  He  tells  the 
superior  at  Notre-Dame-de-Lorm  to  be  satisfied  with  the  100 
or  120  livres  board  as  the  bishop  desires,  if  it  be  sufficient; 
but  if  not,  “represent  to  him  humbly,”  he  says,  “that  this 
does  not  suffice  in  view  of  the  cost  of  living  and  the  little 
revenue  you  have.”37  During  the  Fronde  when  he  was  hard 
pressed  for  alms,  he  instructed  the  confrere  at  Marseilles 
to  “dismiss  without  hesitation  all  our  seminarians  who  do 
not  pay  a  sufficient  board.”38 

Charges  were  also  made  in  some  places  for  the  board 
of  the  candidates  for  ordinations  during  their  spiritual 
retreats.  At  Annecy,  for  example,  they  were  asked  to  pay 
a  florin  per  day.39  At  Rome  the  exercises  were  at  first  given 
free  of  charge.  Later  the  brethren  were  permitted  to  accept 
donations  from  the  candidates,  though  preferably  they  were 
not  to  do  so  if  the  means  of  the  house  permitted.  Still  a  few 
years  later,  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  establishment, 
the  retreatants  were  expected  to  pay  a  nominal  sum. 
Finally,  in  other  places  the  exercises  were  given  gratis 
throughout.  This  was  especially  true  of  Saint-Lazare,  where 
the  board  and  lodging  of  the  many  retreatants  throughout 
the  year  meant  no  small  expense  to  the  house.40 


30  Lett.,  ii.,  262,  No.  729,  To  M.  Gentil,  Aug.  16,  1650. 

37  Lett.,  iv.,  527,  No.  1997,  To  M.  Barry,  Jan.  4,  1660. 

3S  Lett.,  ii.,  146,  No.  635,  To  M.  Portail,  Jan.  22,  1649;  cf.  Ibid.,  15 7,  No. 
644,  Mar.  4,  1649.  St.  Vincent  also  received  remuneration  for  the  care  of 
the  insane  and  delinquents  at  Saint-Lazare,  but  it  is  not  evident  from  the 
context  whether  it  was  requested  as  pay  or  merely  accepted  as  voluntary 
offerings.  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  188-9,  No.  61,  Mar. 
16,  1656. 

39  Lett.,  i.,  330,  No.  299,  To  M.  Codoing  at  Annecy,  July  26,  1640. 

40  Lett.,  i.,  414,  No.  359,  To  M.  Codoing,  Supr.  at  Rome,  July  17,  1642; 
Ibid.,  iii.,  218,  No.  1180,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Dec.  17,  1655;  Ibid.,  iv., 
144,  No.  1695,  Sept.  6,  1658. — The  development  of  the  situation  at  Rome 
seems  to  be  fairly  expressive  of  St.  Vincent’s  mind;  he  demanded  payment 
only  when  the  financial  condition  of  the  house  required  it. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


99 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  on  one  occasion  St.  Vincent 
not  only  lodged  free  of  charge  the  poor  workers  who  wished 
to  make  a  spiritual  retreat  at  St.  Lazare,  but  that  he  even 
paid  the  value  of  their  work  to  their  employers  for  the  time 
thus  spent.41 

He  insisted  very  emphatically  that  the  priests  of  his 
Congregation  should  not  receive  payment  for  the  instruc¬ 
tions  and  missions  they  gave.  As  late  as  1657,  he  wrote  to 
one  of  his  confreres :  “I  beg  you  once  for  all  never  to  give 
missions  except  at  the  expense  of  our  house.”42  He  once 
obliged  a  confrere  to  restore  thirteen  livres  he  had  received 
in  violation  of  this  precept.  He  was  so  careful  in  this  respect 
that  he  would  not  allow  his  brethren  to  accept  even  an  alms 
if  there  was  probability  of  its  being  considered  as  pay  for 
their  services.43 

The  social  workers  of  St.  Vincent,  far  from  receiving 
payment  from  their  charges,  were  not  even  to  accept  pres¬ 
ents  from  them.  In  the  constitution  for  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  at  the  Hotel-Dieu  of  Angers  it  is  expressly  stated 
the  Sister  “shall  neither  receive  nor  give  any  present.”44 
Vincent  is  still  more  explicit  on  this  point  in  the  Particular 
Regulations  for  the  Sisters  of  the  Parishes.  He  says :  “They 
shall  receive  no  present,  however  small  it  be,  from  the  poor 
whom  they  assist,  and  they  shall  be  well  on  their  guard  not 
to  think  that  they  [the  poor]  are  under  obligations  to  them 
for  the  services  they  render  them ;  but  on  the  contrary,  they 
[the  Sisters]  ought  to  be  convinced  that  they  are  very  much 
indebted  to  them  [the  poor],  since  for  a  little  alms  which 
they  give  them,  not  of  their  own  goods,  but  only  of  a  little  of 
their  attentions,  they  make  friends  for  themselves  who  have 
the  right  to  give  them  one  day  entrance  into  heaven ;  and 
even  in  this  life,  they  receive,  because  of  them,  greater  honor 


41  Abelly,  ii.,  350.  n.  1. 

42  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  124,  No.  3103,  Jan.  13,  1657. 

43  Lett.,  i.,  39,  No.  26.  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  Aug.  1631  ;  Ibid.,  53 
No.  40,  To  M.  de  la  Salle,  Nov.  11,  1631;  Ibid.,  254,  No.  244,  To  Mme.  de 
Chantal,  July  14,  1639;  Ibid.,  ii.,  317,  No.  779,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at 
Richelieu,  Mar.  15,  1651;  Ibid.,  iii.,  392,  No.  1321,  To  M.  Cruoly,  Supr.  at 
le  Alans,  Dec.  23,  1656;  Ibid.,  iv.,  265,  No.  1783,  To  M.  Rivet,  Supr.  at 
Saintes,  Jan.  5,  1659;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  554, 
No.  1 16,  Sept.  8,  1659. 

44  Lett.,  i.,  304,  No.  286,  May,  1640. 


100 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  more  true  contentment  than  they  would  ever  have  dared 
hope  for  in  the  world.  .  .  .”45 

3.  Personal  Service 

Personal  service  was  the  keynote  of  all  St.  Vincent’s 
efforts  in  the  field  of  charity.  The  women  of  the  confrater¬ 
nities  all  had  their  day  of  serving  the  poor  sick,  beginning 
with  the  president  and  following  in  the  order  of  their  admis¬ 
sion  into  the  association.  Each  in  her  turn  was  obliged  to 
prepare  the  food,  carry  it  to  'the  poor,  and  serve  it.  The 
Ladies  of  Paris  were  organized  on  the  same  plan  of  personal 
service.  They  went  in  person  to  instruct  and  serve  the  poor 
of  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  to  visit  and  assist  the  poor  sick  in 
their  homes.  And  even  after  they  discontinued  this  latter 
phase  of  their  work,  they  ever  remained  in  personal  touch 
with  the  needy,  studying  in  person  the  particular  wants  of 
the  works  and  the  institutions  to  which  they  rendered  finan¬ 
cial  aid.  The  Daughters  of  Charity  were  organized  preemi¬ 
nently  to  serve  the  sick  and  poor  in  person. 

Personal  service,  to  the  mind  of  St.  Vincent,  not  only 
proved  to  be  the  most  successful  in  actual  experience,  but 
was  of  such  importance  as  to  be  essential  to  the  continued 
existence  of  the  confraternities.  He  writes  thus  to  Mile, 
le  Gras :  “The  proposition  to  nourish  the  sick  each  in  your 
turn,  at  your  expense,  seems  to  me  proper  and  is  being  done 
elsewhere  since  the  day  of  the  erection  of  the  confraternity. 
.  .  .  If  you  take  away  the  duty  of  cooking  meat  from  each 
(member)  of  the  confraternity  now,  never  again  will  you  be 
able  to  restore  it  to  them ;  and  to  have  it  cooked  elsewhere, 
if  someone  undertakes  to  do  it  out  of  charity  at  present,  will 
be  a  burden  to  her  within  a  short  time;  and  if  you  have 
it  prepared  for  pay,  it  will  cost  much ;  then  in  the  course  of 
some  time  the  Ladies  of  Charity  will  say  that  it  is  necessary 
to  have  the  pot  [of  meat]  brought  to  the  sick  by  the  woman 
who  will  prepare  it,  and  in  this  way  your  confraternity  will 
come  to  fail.”46 

One  of  the  principal  points  on  which  Mile,  le  Gras  was 


45  Art.  XII.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  617. 

46  Lett.,  i.,  153. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


101 


instructed  by  St.  Vincent  to  insist  when  visiting  the  various 
confraternities,  was  “to  try  to  persuade”  the  members  “to 
go  in  person  to  visit  the  sick  as  much  as  possible.”47 

St.  Vincent  says  again  that  “it  is  to  be  feared  that,  if  one 
distributes  money  to  them  (the  poor  sick),  the  Ladies  will 
be  content  after  doing  that.”48  It  is  evident  from  this  state¬ 
ment  that  the  giving  of  money  alone  did  not,  according  to 
St.  Vincent,  satisfy  the  obligations  of  charity.  He  demanded 
personal  contact  with  the  poor  and  sick. 

The  plan  of  one  of  St.  Vincent’s  conferences  on  visiting 
the  sick  in  person  is  preserved  to  us.  We  shall  give  the  gist 
of  it  here  in  conclusion. 

The  first  point  deals  with  its  importance.  He  proceeds 
negatively.  In  the  first  place,  he  says  one  who  does  not  visit 
the  sick  in  person  “deprives  our  Lord  of  the  glory  He 
receives  on  earth  from  visiting  the  sick.  This  glory  consists  : 

1.  in  the  obedience  one  renders  Him  [by  visiting  the  sick]  ; 

2.  in  this  that  He  manifests  His  goodness  to  the  poor  through 
ours ;  3.  in  this  that  the  poor  learn  to  know  and  love  Him 
more  in  consequence.”  Secondly,  he  says,  such  a  person 
deprives  himself  “1.  of  the  blessing  [of  God]  on  his  goods; 

2.  of  the  graces  God  attaches  to  the  visiting  of  the  poor; 

3.  he  puts  himself  in  danger  of  losing  [eternal]  glory,”  for 
“God,  takes  it  equally  away  from  both  those  who  have 
received  some  talent  in  vain”  [and  such  are  those  who  fail 
to  visit  the  sick]  “and  from  those  who  have  sinned  mortally.” 
Thirdly,  such  a  one  “deprives  the  poor  of  the  consolation  one 
brings  to  them  by  visiting  them .  .  .  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  His  love,”  whom  the  poor  would  learn  to  know 
through  the  visitor.  “And  it  can  happen,”  so  the  document 
continues,  “that  being  deprived  of  the  consolation  of  the 
instruction  you  would  give  them,  they  shall  be  deprived  of 
paradise.” 

According  to  St.  Vincent,  therefore,  “to  visit  the  sick” 
in  person,  besides  giving  glory  to  God,  and  bringing  bless¬ 
ings  to  the  visitor  and  consolation  to  those  visited,  is  a 
Christian  obligation.  It  has  been  commanded  by  Christ. 

47  Ibid.,  154,  No.  152,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  at  Villepreux,  (1636)  ;  Ibid.,  64, 
No.  50,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  at  Villeneuve-Saint-Georges,  July  io,  1632. 

48  Ibid.,  35,  No.  2i,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Feb.  24,  1631. 


102 


THE  CHARITIES 


One  who  fails  to  do  so  when  he  can,  runs  the  danger  of  losing 
eternal  glory  and,  at  times,  is  indirectly  responsible  for  the 
salvation  of  the  sick  and  poor. 

The  second  point  of  this  conference  treats  of  the  spirit 
with  which  one  should  be  animated  when  visiting  the  poor. 
In  the  first  place,  St.  Vincent  applies  the  “Golden  Rule”  and 
says  you  should  “visit  them  in  the  spirit  in  which  you  would 
desire  that  one  visited  you  if  you  were  in  their  place.”  Sec¬ 
ondly,  he  says,  you  should  “visit  them  with  the  faith  with 
which  you  would  visit  our  Lord,  which  is  the  spirit  in  which 
St.  Louis  often  visited  the  poor.” 

In  the  third  part  of  the  conference  St.  Vincent  enumer¬ 
ates  the  means  which  keep  this  spirit  alive  and  which  enable 
one  to  make  the  visits  in  a  befitting  Christian  manner.  He 
enumerates  the  following  four :  “1.  It  is  necessaiT  to  ask  the 
grace  of  God ;  2.  to  retire  at  an  early  hour  the  evening  before 
and  devote  some  time  to  good  reading;  3.  to  make  one’s 
meditation  in  the  morning  on  the  contents  of  this  reading, 
then  to  assist  at  Mass;  4.  to  keep  oneself  more  recollected 
on  this  day”  [the  day  of  special  service  assigned  by  the 
constitution  of  the  confraternity].49 

This  is  all  of  the  conference  that  has  come  down  to  us, 
but  it  is  sufficient  to  show  that  St.  Vincent  not  only  urged 
the  obligation  of  keeping  in  touch  with  the  poor  by  visiting 
them  in  person,  but  also  insisted  that  it  be  done  in  a  manner 
well  worthy  of  a  Christian  and  not  as  a  matter  of  business 
or  routine. 


49  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  229-30. 


# 


1 


CHAPTER  II 


Organized  Charity 

The  necessity  of  organization  in  relief  work  was  strik¬ 
ingly  brought  home  to  St.  Vincent  in  the  early  years  of  his 
charitable  activity.  In  the  autumn  of  1617,  St.  Vincent  was 
parish  priest  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  a  little  town  of  the 
present  diocese  of  Belley  in  eastern  France.  At  the  Sunday 
Mass  he  had  recommended  a  family,  striken  alike  with  pov¬ 
erty  and  sickness,  to  the  charity  of  his  parishioners.  They 
responded  most  generously.  St.  Vincent,  however,  upon 
visiting  the  family  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  was  forced 
to  exclaim :  “Behold  the  great  charity  that  they  practice. 
But  it  is  not  well  regulated.  These  poor  people  are  provided 
with  too  much  at  a  time ;  a  part  of  it  will  spoil  and  perish, 
and  then  they  will  relapse  into  their  former  necessity.” 

This  consideration  immediately  suggested  organization 
to  St.  Vincent’s  practical  mind.  He  accordingly  induced 
a  number  of  the  pious  women  of  the  parish  to  band  together 
for -the -purpose  of  providing  the  needful  each  day  for  this 
one  family  as  well  as  for  such  others  as  might  require 
their  assistance  in  the  future.  After  a  successful  trial 
of  three  months,  he  gave  the  association  a  permanent  con¬ 
stitution.1 

This  initial  experience  taught  St.  Vincent,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  necessity  of  organization  in  the  field  of  relief  and, 
on  the  other,  the  possibilities  of  systematic  effort.  He  was 
quick  to  learn  the  lesson.  From  this  time  until  his  death, 
a  space  of  forty-three  years,  he  was  engaged  in  organized 
charity. 

St.  Vincent  expresses  his  mind  on  the  relative  value  and 
necessity  of  organized  charity  in  the  constitution  of  the 
association  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes.  The  poor  of  this  city, 

1  Confer,  mix  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  i.,  208-9,  ^o.  2T,  Feb.  T3.  1646;  Lett,  ct 
Confer,  de  S.  Cine,  de  Paul  (Sitppl.),  385-402. 

103 


104 


THE  CHARITIES 


he  says  in  the  preamble  of  this  document,  “have  at  times 
suffered  much  rather  in  default  of  order  in  relieving  them 
than  [for  want]  of  charitable  persons.”2  According  to  this 
statement,  therefore,  both  alms  and  order  in  distributing 
them  are  essential  elements  in  the  giving  of  relief.  The 
absence  of  the  latter,  no  less  than  of  the  former,  can  frus¬ 
trate  the  purposes  of  charity.  Moreover,  his  entire  career 
of  charity  manifests  his  conviction  of  the  impossibility  of 
founding  anything  durable  and  effective  without  rules  and 
regulations  extending  at  times  to  the  minutest  details. 

1.  Organization  in  Social  Service 

* 

We  shall  ascertain  the  nature  of  St.  Vincent’s  organi¬ 
zations  by  centering  our  attention  especially  on  the  various 
constitutions,  which  he  drafted  for  the  different  confer¬ 
ences,  or  confraternities,  of  charity.  These  conferences  were 
strictly  lay  associations. 

Each  confraternity  was  a  separate,  independent  unit, 
circumscribed  ordinarily  by  the  limits  of  the  parish  where 
it  was  established.  St.  Vincent,  however,  was  not  opposed 
on  principle  to  having  the  associations  overlap,  as,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  at  Beauvais  where  the  members  of  one  confraternity 
assisted  at  the  burial  of  the  poor  who  had  been  under  the 
care  of  another  confraternity,3  or  even  to  having  one  con¬ 
fraternity  for  the  entire  city,  or  for  the  city  and  its  depend¬ 
ent  villages,  irrespective  of  parish  limits.4  As  late  as  1656, 
he  instructed  two  Sisters  on  their  departure  for  Arras  to 
establish  either  one  general  confraternity  for  the  city,  or 
one  in  each  parish,  according  to  the  wishes  of  the  authori¬ 
ties  there.  He  advised  the  latter  plan,  however,  stating 
that  it  had  succeeded  at  Beauvais  after  the  former  had 
failed.5 

The  work  was  under  strict  ecclesiastical  supervision.  It 
was  subject  to  the  approval  and  good  pleasure  of  the  re¬ 
spective  bishops  and  to  the  direction  and  general  supervision 


2  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  dc  Paul  (Suppl.),  388. 

3  Lett.,  i.,  33,  No.  19.  To  Mile,  le  Gras  at  Beauvais,  Dec.  7,  1630. 

4  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  427. 

5  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  189,  No.  68,  Aug.  30,  1656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


105 


of  the  local  parish  priest  or  his  vicar.6  If,  however,  the  par¬ 
ish  priest  was  non-resident,  or  either  he  or  his  vicar  did  not 
take  sufficient  interest  in  the  work,  the  constitution  of 
Chatillon-les-Dombes  [Nov.  24,  1617],  made  it  permissible 
for  the  confraternity  to  choose  another  priest,  approved 
by  the  archbishop,  as  director  of  the  work  and  spiritual 
moderator  of  the  members.  A  later  constitution  [Mont- 
mirail,  1618],  gave  much  more  prominence  to  the  duties  of 
the  parish  priest  or  director.7  He  was  placed  in  direct  touch 
with  the  sick  poor  and  made  to  participate  in  the  activities 
of  the  confraternity.  He  was  commissioned  to  see  to  the 
exact  observance  of  the  rules  regarding  the  care  of  the  sick; 
These  could  be  admitted  to  the  care  of  the  confraternity 
or  dismissed  only  after  consulting  him.  He  could  admit 
the  sick  but  only  after  consulting  the  president  or  the  first 
assistant.  He  was  asked  to  visit  the  sick  in  person  every 
two  days  if  possible.  He  was  also  instructed  to  supervise, 
or  if  necessary  to  have  complete  control  of,  the  treasury.8 

Apart  from  this,  the  organization  was  very  democratic. 
The  members  elected  their  officers  from  their  midst.  The 
usual  officers  were  a  president  and  her  two  assistants,9 
elected  for  six  months,  or  one,  two,  or  three  years.  They 
could,  however,  be  deposed  at  any  time  for  mismanagement, 
by  the  vote  of  the  members.10 

St.  Vincent  was  well  aware  of  the  influence  of  the  officers 
on  an  organization.  He  says  in  one  of  his  conferences  :  “The 
entire  well-being  of  companies,  both  of  men  and  of  women, 
depends  on  the  officers  when  they  fulfil  their  duties  faith- 


6  Lett.,  i.,  32,  33,  No.  19,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  at  Beauvais.  Dec.  7,  1630:  Ibid., 
35,  No.  21.  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Feb.  24,  1631;  Ibid..  236,  No.  231,  to  Mile,  le 
Gras  (1639). 

7  So  little  prominence  is  given  to  the  parish  priest  in  the  constitution  of 
Chatillon-les-Dombes.  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  St.  Vincent  himself 
was  the  parish  priest  in  question. 

8  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.)}  403-4;  Lett.,  i.,  153,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Oct. 

3L  1636.  _  - 

9  They  are  called  by  different  names  in  the  various  constitutions,  z'.g.. 
prieure,  sous-prieure,  trcsoricre ;  superieure,  trcsoricre,  garde-menble ; 
prieure,  trcsoricre.  assistantc.  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  384,  389,  390,  397. 

10  Ibid.,  384,  397.  409;  Coste,  100.  One  constitution  (Lett,  et  Confer. 
[Sup pi.],  384)  prescribes  that  the  first  officers  lie  appointed  by  the  parish 
priest  and  thereafter  elected  every  six  months  by  the  members.  The  twelve 
assistants  of  the  men's  confraternity  were  elected  for  life  (Lett,  et  Confer. 
[Sup pi],  41 3). 


106 


THE  CHARITIES 


fully.  On  the  contrary,  everything  becomes  disorderly  when 
they  neglect  things,  wish  to  govern  otherwise  than  they 
should,  and  follow  their  own  whims.11 

According  to  the  constitution  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes, 
the  president  was  in  direct  charge  of  the  work.  It  was  her 
duty  to  see  that  the  poor  were  cared  for  according  to  the 
regulations  of  the  confraternity  and,  during  the  interval 
between  the  monthly  meeting,  to  admit  to  the  benefits  of 
the  association  the  sick  who  were  truly  poor,  and  to  dismiss 
those  who  had  recovered.  She  was  ordinarily  obliged  to 
consult  her  two  assisting  officers,  or,  at  least  one  of  them, 
before  acting  in  these  matters.  Still,  without  their  advice, 
she  was  empowered  to  order  the  treasurer  to  give  out  what¬ 
ever  she  judged  necessary  for  the  things  demanding  atten¬ 
tion  before  the  next  meeting.12 

Later  constitutions  make  some  modifications  in  the  duties 
of  the  president.13  One  of  them  obliges  her  to  consult  also 
the  spiritual  director  before  receiving  or  dismissing  a  patient 
and  to  visit  the  sick  in  person  every  three  days;  also  to 
summon  “the  physician,  apothecary,  surgeon”  for  the  sick 
when  necessary,  to  have  collections  taken  up  in  the  parish 
on  Sundays  and  feast  days  and  to  give  her  orders  to  the 
treasurer  in  writing  for  expenses  exceeding  five  sous.  In 
another  constitution  the  president  is  commissioned  “to  re¬ 
ceive  the  sick  after  the  physician  has  visited  them,  and  to 
give  a  certificate  that  she  has  found  out  that  they  are  poor, 
resident  in  the  parish  for  three  months,  and  not  afflicted 
with  a  contagious  disease.”  She  is  instructed  to  visit  them 
once  a  week,  if  possible.14 

The  two  assistants  were  to  act  in  the  capacity  of  advisers 
to  the  president  and,  with  her,  look  after  the  welfare  of 
the  poor  and  the  maintenance  of  the  association.  One  of 
them  was  charged  with  the  duties  usually  incumbent  upon 
a  vice  president  and  a  treasurer.  She  was  to  fulfil  the 


11  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  196,  No.  4,  Aug.  27,  1660. 

12  Ibid.,  390. 

13  These  modifications  undoubtedly  register  the  results  of  experience ;  St. 
Vincent  is  seeking  to  strengthen  the  weak  points  and  remedy  the  defects  of 
his  first  set  of  rules  in  the  light  of  experience. 

14  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl),  384,  405. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


107 


functions  of  the  president  in  the  latter’s  absence,  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  money,  to  have  charge  of  the  linens  and 
the  other  commodities  destined  for  the  use  of  the  poor  sick, 
to  purchase  and  keep  in  custody  the  provisions  necessary 
for  the  assistance  of  the  poor,  to  give  what  was  required 
to  the  lady  whose  turn  it  was  to  serve  the  sick  poor,  to  wash 
the  linens  of  the  sick,  to  execute  the  orders  of  the  president 
and  to  keep  an  exact  account  of  all  the  receipts  and  expenses 
of  the  confraternity.15 

Later  constitutions  divide  these  duties  between  the  two 
assistants.  One  assigns  to  the  first  assistant  or  treasurer 
the  duty  of  receiving,  guarding,  and  spending  the  funds  of 
the  confraternity  and  of  paying  the  legacies  made  to  the 
confraternity.  She  can  incur  no  expense  without  the  advice 
of  the  president,  and  must  render  an  account  to  the  mem¬ 
bers  monthlv  and  also  at  the  end  of  her  term  of  office. 
Another  constitution  allows  her  to  spend  “below  five  sous” 
per  month16  for  the  necessities  of  the  poor  without  the  presi¬ 
dent’s  consent.  She  is  instructed  to  have  one  book  in  which 
she  records  the  receipts  and  another  for  the  expenditures. 
She  is  to  be  present  with  her  book  of  receipts  when  the  poor 
boxes  are  opened  and  record  the  amount  of  money  found 
there.  She  must  render  an  annual  account.  She  is  to  guard 
the  “papers  and  title  deeds”  in  a  special  safe  having  a  double 
lock ;  she  keeps  one  key,  the  president  the  other.  She  shall, 
with  the  good  pleasure  of  the  president,  have  on  hand  and 
distribute  to  the  sick  such  provisions  “as  sweetmeats,  bar¬ 
ley,  prunes”;  she  shall  also  keep  a  number  of  chickens  to 
furnish  fresh  eggs  for  the  sick.  A  third  constitution  de¬ 
mands  that  she  have  a  double  lock  also  on  the  money  safe17 
and  that  she  render  her  account  at  the  end  of  her  office  “to 
the  newly  elected  officers  and  to  the  other  persons  of  the 
confraternity  in  the  presence  of  the  parish  priest  and  the 


15  Ibid.,  300. 

16  Most  of  the  constitutions  permit  the  treasurer  the  expenditure  of  a 
specified  small  amount  for  the  relief  of  emergency  cases  without  the  presi¬ 
dent's  permission. 

17  Ibid.,  384,  406.  410.  422.  The  same  precautions  are  taken  in  the  con¬ 
fraternities  for  men  {Ibid.,  414.  419).  One  constitution  for  men  demands 
that  there  be  even  three  different  keys,  one  in  the  hands  of  each  of  the 
superior  officers  (Lett.,  i.,  20). 


108 


THE  CHARITIES 


people  of  the  parish  who  wish  to  be  present.”18  The  consti¬ 
tution  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  as  also  a  later  one,  demands 
that  the  report  of  the  treasurer  be  accepted  without  ques¬ 
tion.19 

The  other  assistant  is  entrusted  by  these  later  constitu¬ 
tions  with  the  safe-keeping  of  the  utensils  and  commodities 
of  the  association  of  which  she  shall  keep  an  inventory. 
She  is  to  take  note  of  the  utensils  which  she  lends  to  the 
sick,  and  also  of  the  name  and  residence  of  the  latter.  She 
shall  make  a  collection  of  linens  with  the  treasurer,  or  first 
assistant,  once  during  her  term  of  office,  and  shall  render 
an  account  at  the  end  of  eighteen  months.  Another  consti¬ 
tution  commissions  her  to  wash  and  mend  the  linens  of  the 
confraternity.20 

A  fourth  officer  common  to  the  associations  of  women 
was  the  bursar,  or  procurator.  This  office  owes  its  exist¬ 
ence  to  the  fact  that  St.  Vincent  did  not  think  it  proper 
that  the  women  alone  should  have  the  management  of  the 
temporal  foundations  which  he  foresaw  would  be  made  in 
favor  of  the  confraternity.  The  constitution  of  Chatillon- 
les-Dombes  demands  that  the  incumbent  be  a  pious  eccle¬ 
siastic  or  virtuous  layman  of  the  town  who  was  well 
disposed  toward  the  poor  and  not  too  much  absorbed  in  tem¬ 
poral  affairs.  He  was  to  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  mem¬ 
bership  while  in  office.  The  duration  of  his  office  depended 
entirely  on  the  good  pleasure  of  the  confraternity.21 

The  same  constitution  assigns  to  him  the  following  du¬ 
ties  :  to  manage  the  temporal  foundations  of  the  association 
with  the  advice  of  the  spiritual  director  and  the  other  three 


18  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  410.  According  to  the  constitution  of 
Chatillon-les-Dombes,  the  chatelain  of  the  city,  and  the  rector  and  one  of 
the  syndics  of  the  hospital  are  to  be  invited.  Through  them  the  members 
of  the  city  council  may  be  kept  informed  of  the  management  of  the  tem¬ 
poral  affairs  of  the  association.  In  case  of  maladministration,  these  in  turn 
are  requested  to  report  the  matter  to  the  archbishop  for  correction.  Ibid.. 
390,  396.  The  final  draft  of  the  constitutions  for  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of 
the  Court,  on  the  contrary,  demands  that  the  treasurer  make  her  annual 
report  to  the  members  only.  Art.  4,  Coste,  102.  * 

19  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  396,  423. 

20  Ibid.,  384-5,  407,  423. 

21  Ibid.,  389,  397.  The  constitutions  for  the  conference  at  Courboing 
[June  19,  1622]  limited  his  election  to  the  choice  of  the  officers  and  restricted 
his  term  of  office  to  two  years.  Ibid.,  423. ' 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


109 


officers,  to  render  an  account  of  the  state  of  his  affairs  when 
called  upon  to  do  so,  to  record  the  resolutions  taken  at  the 
meetings,  and  to  invite,  on  the  part  of  the  confraternity, 
the  chatelain  of  the  town  and  the  rector  of  the  hospital  with 
one  of  the  syndics  to  assist  at  the  rendering  of  accounts. 
He  was  also  to  act  as  the  conference’s  sacristan. 

Another  constitution  extends  his  duties.  He  is  instructed 
to  keep  a  list  of  the  collections  made  at  the  church  and  from 
house  to  house  and  of  the  donations  of  individuals;  to  give 
the  receipts,  and  to  draw  up  the  accounts  of  the  treasurer 
if  necessary.  He  is  also  to  act  as  general  secretary  of  the 
confraternity.  This  implied  that  he  copy  the  constitution 
of  the  confraternity  and  the  act  of  establishment  into  his 
book,  as  also  the  names  of  the  members,  the  day  of  their 
reception  and  decease,  the  elections  of  officers,  the  accounts 
rendered,  the  names  of  the  sick  assisted  by  the  confra¬ 
ternity,  the  day  of  their  reception  and  of  their  re¬ 
covery  or  death,  and  in  general  everything  of  interest 
and  importance.22 

The  constitution  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes  makes  provi¬ 
sion  also  for  two  “guards  of  the  poor  sick.”  These  are  to 
be  poor  and  virtuous  women,  not  members  of  the  confra¬ 
ternity,  chosen  by  the  ladies.  They  are  to  enjoy  all  the 
privileges  of  membership  except  the  right  of  voting.  It  is 
their  duty  to  remain  with  the  sick  who  are  alone  and  bed¬ 
ridden,  and  nurse  them  according  to  the  orders  of  the 
president.  The  regulations  for  the  conference  at  Courboing 
charge  them  with  the  further  duty  of  notifying  the  Ladies 
of  Charity  of  special  meetings  and  admit  them  to  unre¬ 
stricted  membership.23 

Membership  was  open  to  women  of  all  states  of  life — 
married,  widowed,  and  single.  The  sole  requisites  in  the 
applicant  were  true  virtue  and  piety,  a  founded  hope  of  their 
persevering  in  the  work,  and,  if  married,  or  single  and  living 
at  home,  the  consent  of  husband  or  parents.  To  forestall 
the  confusion  that  might  result  from  overmembership,  the 
constitutions  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes  limited  the  number 


22  Ibid.,  410. 

23  Ibid.,  389,  424. 


110 


THE  CHARITIES 


provisionally  to  twenty.24  It  also  made  the  members  liable 
to  expulsion,  after  due  warnings,  for  a  public  sin  or  for 
grave  carelessness  or  neglect  in  the  care  of  the  poor. 

The  members  of  the  association  were  to  serve  the  sick 
successively,  one  each  day,  beginning  with  the  president 
and  the  others  following  in  the  order  of  their  reception  into 
the  confraternity. 

Such  was  St.  Vincent’s  organization  for  visiting  nursing. 
It  has  been  chosen  here  to  exemplify  his  principles  in  organi¬ 
zation  because  it  was,  on  the  one  hand,  the  most  universally 
spread  and  the  most  successful  of  his  lay  organizations  and 
on  the  other,  it  served  as  the  groundwork  for  other  associa¬ 
tions  and  underwent  but  slight  modifications  when  adapted 
to  a  different  type  of  membership  and  a  different  purpose. 

It  was  characteristic  of  St.  Vincent  not  to  insist  on  any 
special,  rigid  form  of  organization.  He  always  adhered 
to  the  general  outline,  but  allowed  many  of  the  minor  details 
to  be  determined  by  local  conditions.  And,  though  he  in¬ 
sisted  on  the  strict  and  uniform  observance  of  the  rules 
when  once  established,  he  was  ever  ready  to  make  an  ex¬ 
ception  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  charity  in  accordance 
with  his  own  principle  that,  “the  duty  of  charity  is  above 
all  rule.”25  For  example,  he  praised  Mile,  le  Gras  in  one  of 
his  letters  to  her  for  accommodating  the  constitution  of  a 
conference  to  the  circumstances.26  On  another  occasion  he 
sent  her  a  set  of  rules  with  the  instructions  to  change  what¬ 
ever  was  necessary  or  useful  in  the  light  of  local  conditions.27 
And  many  are  the  instances  on  record  where  he  made  an 
exception  to  the  rule  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  and  of  the 
priests  in  order  to  meet  special  needs.  It  was,  in  short,  just 
this  faculty  of  adaptability  that  enabled  St.  Vincent  with 
his  bands  of  workers  to  undertake  tasks  so  varied  and  to 


24  Ibid.,  389.  For  the  same  reason  also  a  later  constitution  restricts  the 
membership  of  both  men  and  women  “to  a  certain  number”  (Ibid.,  428).  St. 
Vincent  thinks  it  advisable  to  reduce  the  number  of  members  at  Montreuil  to 
sixty  (Lett.,  i.,  38,  No.  24,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  at  Montreuil,  May  31,  1631).  A 
reglement  general  specifies  that  the  membership  shall  consist  of  “a  certain 
and  limited  number”  (Lett,  et  Confer.  [Suppl.],  409). 

25  Lett.,  iii.,  320,  No.  1263,  To  a  Daughter  of  Charity  at  Richelieu,  July 
26,  1656. 

26  Lett.,  ii.,  69,  No.  580  (1648). 

27  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  25,  No.  3007,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1639). 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


111 


enter  fields  so  diversified  as  to  afford  relief  to  all  forms  of 
human  misery. 

2.  Meetings 

“Frequent  communication  with  one  another,  to  tell  one 
another  all, — there  is  nothing  more  necessary.  This  unites 
the  hearts  and  God  blesses  the  counsel  one  takes  so  that 
things  go  better.”  In  these  words  of  St.  Vincent  to  his 
Daughters  of  Charity  he  epitomizes  his  teaching  on  the 
utility  and  necessity  of  frequent  meetings,  formal  and  in¬ 
formal,  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  views  and  discussing 
difficulties.28  In  all  his  constitutions  he  makes  provisions 
to  this  effect. 

Ordinarily  a  monthly  meeting  was  demanded.  It  was 
held  on  the  first  or  third  Sunday  of  the  month  in  the  special 
chapel  destined  for  the  use  of  the  confraternity,  or  in  a 
chapel  of  the  church  or  in  that  of  the  hospital.  On  the 
morning  of  the  meeting  day,  or  on  the  following  day,  a  low 
Mass  was  said  for  the  confraternity  at  eight  o’clock,  or  at 
an  hour  agreed  upon  by  the  members.  The  members  were 
admonished  to  attend  this  Mass  in  a  body  and  to  receive  the 
sacraments.29 

The  meeting  proper  was  held  at  one  o’clock,  or  “after 
Vespers,”  or  at  a  convenient  hour  of  the  afternoon,  but  not 
while  services  were  being  conducted  in  the  parish  churches. 
The  meeting  was  opened  with  the  singing  of  the  Litany  of 
our  Lord,  or  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Thereupon  the  parish 
priest  or  his  vicar,  i.  e.,  the  director  of  the  confraternity, 
gave  a  “brief  exhortation.”  One  constitution  inverts  this 
order.  The  subject  of  the  exhortation  was  to  make  “for  the 
spiritual  advancement  of  the  entire  company  and  for  the 
conservation  and  progress  of  the  confraternity,”  or,  as  an¬ 
other  constitution  expresses  it,  it  was  “to  impress  in  their 


28  Ibid.,  307-8,  No.  3,  Conscil  du  19  Inin  164 7.  This  bent  of  mind  on  the 
part  of  St.  Vincent  did  not  arise  solely  from  his  conviction  of  the  practical 
value  of  such  meetings.  It  had  its  deeper  root  in  his  character.  We  have 
seen  how  he  himself  always  acted  with  the  advice  of  others  and  demanded 
the  same  humility  of  judgment  in  those  under  his  direction. 

29  Ibid.,  394-5,  403,  411,  414-5,  420,  425,  431-2.  One  constitution  prescribes 
that  the  women  take  turns,  one  each  meeting  day,  in  furnishing  the  flowers 
for  the  adornment  of  the  altar  (Ibid.,  403). 


112 


THE  CHARITIES 


hearts  the  spirit  of  true  and  solid  devotion.”  Some  time 
was  devoted  to  the  reading  of  the  rules  of  the  confraternity, 
or  the  reading  of  the  rules  could  replace  the  exhortation. 
The  members  were  admonished  to  call  one  another’s  atten¬ 
tion  to  faults  committed  in  the  service  of  the  poor.30 

According  to  the  constitution  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes, 
the  director  proposed  questions  that  made  for  the  well-being 
of  the  sick  poor.  These  points  were  discussed  by  all  the 
members  and  results  were  arrived  at  by  the  plurality  vote 
of  all  present.  Other  constitutions  restrict  this  discussion 
of  practical  points  to  the  officers.  The  constitution  of 
Chatillon-les-Dombes  allows  but  one-half  hour  for  the  read¬ 
ing  of  the  rules,  mutual  correction  of  faults,  and  the  dis¬ 
cussion  of  practical  points.31 

The  same  constitution  also  contains  the  practical  admo¬ 
nition  that  the  entire  meeting  be  conducted  “without  noise 
or  confusion  and  with  as  few  words  as  possible.”  The  con¬ 
stitution  for  the  men’s  confraternity  prescribes  that,  after 
the  vote  has  been  taken  and  announced  on  any  point,  all 
further  discussion  must  cease.32  The  Ladies  of  Charity  of 
the  Royal  Court  are  admonished  never  to  interrupt  the 
speaker,  to  express  their  opinions  succinctly,  and  to  exclude 
irrelevant  matters  from  their  meetings,  notably  affairs  of  - 
state  and  personal  interests.33 

The  peculiar  organization  of  this  latter  confraternity 
affected  also  the  nature  of  its  meetings.  Three  of  the  Ladies 
were  assigned  to  each  of  several  departments  or  fields  of 
work.  Each  division  first  met  and  discussed  its  own  affairs 


30  Ibid.,  395,  403,  414-5,  425,  432.  We  know  from  St.  Vincent’s  confer¬ 
ences  to  his  Daughters  of  Charity  that  he  laid  great  stress  on  the  frequent 
reading  of  the  rules  as  a  means  of  stimulating  interest  and  enthusiasm 
(v.g.,  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  dc  la  Char.,  i.,  63).  A  constitution  for  the  union  of 
a  conference  of  charity  with  a  confraternity  of  the  Holy  Name,  contains 
the  following  article:  “And  in  order  that  each  member  of  the  conference 
may  better  know  what  he  is  obliged  to  do,  the  present  constitution  shall  be 
read  aloud  in  church  after  Vespers  by  the  pastor,  or  by  another  appointed 
by  him,  on  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month  during  the  first  year  and  there¬ 
after  once  a  year  on  the  feast  day  of  the  said  conference”  (Lett.,  i.,  20,  No. 
7,  April  11,  1627). 

31  Ibid.,  395,  403,  414-5,  432.  The  constitution  for  the  men’s  branch  of 
the  confraternity  at  Folleville  provides  that  the  officers  meet  oftener  than 
once  a  month,  if  it  be  expedient.  Ibid.,  414. 

32  Ibid.,  395,  414,  432. 

33  Coste,  105,  Art.  12-3;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  476. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


113 


and  difficulties,  and  brought  only  the  more  important  matters 
before  the  general  monthly  meetings.34 

Incidental  remarks  of  St.  Vincent  touching  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  meetings  are  also  well  worth  recalling.  They  go  to 
show  that  he  was  not  satisfied  with  one  meeting  a  month. 
In  one  of  his  letters  he  proposes  as  a  model  the  Ladies  of 
Rheims  “who  assemble  every  week”  to  discuss  the  affairs 
of  the  poor.35  During  the  devastation  of  the  provinces  the 
Ladies  of  Charity  at  Paris  held  a  meeting  weekly,  and  during 
the  Fronde  they  met  even  daily,  to  place  the  alms  in  the 
hands  of  the  treasurer,  to  report  the  more  urgent  needs  and 
discuss  the  remedies.36  He  tells  his  brethren  to  confer  with 
one  another  every  day,  and  he  heartily  approves  of  the  idea 
that  his  Daughters  of  Charity  spend  about  half  an  hour  each 
day  relating  what  they  have  done  and  the  difficulties  they 
have  encountered,  and  considering  their  coming  duties.37 

Finally,  we  may  quote  the  words  of  St.  Vincent  which 
we  find  in  the  outline  of  a  conference  to  the  Ladies  of 
Charity.  He  says :  The  members  “.  .  .  ought  to  be  glad  to 
assist  at  the  meetings  because  they  learn  to  know  one  an¬ 
other  better,  and,  as  many  burning  coals  give  out  more  heat 
and  light,  so,  too,  many  Ladies  of  Charity,  selected  and 
assembled  occasionally,  inflame  one  another  with  the  love  of 
God ;  3.  because  it  is  a  means  of  remedying  difficulties  which 
face  the  Company  and  thus  of  consolidating  it  and,  in  conse¬ 
quence,  of  making  it  subsist;  4.  in  order  that  they  be  in¬ 
formed  of  all  that  takes  place  and  of  the  difficulties  that  could 
happen  to  any  one,  and  that  they  enlighten  those  who  might 
have  any  reason  to  complain.”88 


34  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  475-6.  Days  apart  from  the  monthly  meet¬ 
ings  were  assigned  for  the  elections,  rendering  of  accounts,  and  the  like. 

35  Lett.,  iii.,  260,  No.  1219,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  April  13,  1656. 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  final  constitution  for  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at 
Paris  drafted  by  St.  Vincent  in  1660,  demands  a  weekly  meeting.  Coste.  104. 

36  Lett.,  ii.,  429,  No.  871,  To  M.  Vageot,  Supr.  at  Saintes,  May  22,  1652; 
Ibid.,  iii.,  323,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28,  1656;  cf. 
also  letters  to  Frere  Jean  Parre ;  Lett.,  iii.,  pp.  563,  628,  639;  Lett.,  iv.,  233, 
236.  245. 

37  Lett.,  i.,  188,  No.  184,  To  M.  Lambert  at  Richelieu,  Jan.  30,  1638;  Lett, 
ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  307. 

38  Projet  de  Confer,  aux  Dames  de  la  Char.,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.), 
226;  cf.  also  Plan  d'entretien  sur  les  raisons  de  se  reunir  de  temps  a  autre, 
Coste,  114-6;  Idem,  136. 


114 


THE  CHARITIES 


3.  Co-operation 

St.  Vincent  showed  great  interest  in  all  the  religious 
and  charitable  movements  of  his  time,  and  was  ever  ready 
to  lend  his  personal  aid  to  promote  them.  We  know,  too, 
that  he  insisted  on  mutual  cooperation,  on  union  and  har¬ 
mony  of  thought  and  effort,  among  his  workers  for  the 
attainment  of  the  purpose  of  their  respective  institutions. 
He  was  likewise  very  solicitous  to  gain  the  good  will  and 
retain  the  favor  of  the  bishops  and  the  pastors  and  the 
socially  and  politically  prominent  in  order  that  they  might 
actually  assist,  or,  at  least,  not  hamper,  him  in  his  work.39 

We  also  find  systematic  cooperation  between  his  Ladies 
of  Charity  at  Paris  and  the  religious  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  in 
the  care  of  the  poor  sick.  Before  associating  himself  with 
this  work,  St.  Vincent  first  talked  with  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  administrators  of  the  hospital.  He  wished  thereby 
to  forestall  misinterpretations  of  the  Ladies’  intentions,  since 
in  reality  their  proffered  services  implied  an  indictment  of 
the  hospital  administration. 

The  Ladies  began  by  visiting  the  sick  in  groups  of  four. 
They  presented  themselves  to  the  religious  in  charge  and 
offered  to  assist  them.  “We  pretend  to  contribute  to  the 
salvation  and  the  relief  of  the  poor,  but  this  is  impossible 
without  the  aid  and  consent  of  these  good  religious  who  gov¬ 
ern  them” — this  was  the  conviction  that  dictated  St.  Vin¬ 
cent’s  instructions  to  the  Ladies.  He  told  them  “to  esteem 
and  honor  the  religious  as  visible  angels,  addressing  them 


39  For  example,  he  does  not  wish  the  Superior  at  Sedan  to  be  commis¬ 
sioned  to  communicate  the  prohibition  to  preach  to  a  certain  ecclesiastic, 
because  “this  young  man  has  prominent  relatives  at  Sedan  who  would  take 
this  prohibition  ill  .  .  ;  moreover,  “the  governor  would  he  displeased  that 

you  did  it  without  speaking  to  him  of  it.’’  (Lett.,  ii.,  403,  No.  853,  To  M. 
Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Mar.  23,  1652).  He  postpones  the  appointment  of 
a  new  superior  at  Sedan  in  order  not  to  offend  the  governor  and  says  :  “You 
know  the  trouble  we  have  taken  to  satisfy  him  on  this  point  and  the  changes 
we  have  had  to  make  to  retain  his  good  pleasure,  without  which  the  Com¬ 
pany  could  accomplish  nothing  or  but  little’’  (Ibid.,  356,  No.  816,  To  M. 
Dufour,  Confrere  at  Sedan,  Oct.  7,  1651).  The  superior  at  Toul  neglects 
to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  an  alms  from  Mme.  de  Herse,  a  rich  and 
noble  lady  of  Paris;  St.  Vincent  writes  him  a  letter  urging  him  to  make  due 
acknowledgment  at  once  and  proffer  his  excuses,  for,  he  says,  “she  is  a 
benefactress  of  our  Company  and  one  of  the  most  eminent;  and  for  this 
reason  we  ought  to  comply  with  her  wishes  and  strive  to  satisfy  her.  .  . 
(Ibid.,  iii.,  710,  No.  1578,  To  M.  Desjardins,  Supr.  at  Toul,  Dec.  29,  1657). 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


115 


with  meekness  and  humility  and  showing  them  all  defer¬ 
ence.”  If  their  services  were  not  always  accepted  with  good 
will  on  the  part  of  the  religious,  they  should  “make  excuses 
and  endeavor  to  enter  their  sentiments  without  ever  con¬ 
tradicting  or  grieving  them  or  wishing  to  dominate  over 
them.”  In  consequence  of  this  friendly  and  respectful  ap¬ 
proach,  the  Ladies  soon  had  full  “liberty  to  go  from  room 
to  room  and  from  bed  to  bed,  to  console  the  poor  sick,  to 
speak  to  them  of  God,  and  to  urge  them  to  make  good  use 
of  their  infirmities.”40 

They  soon  added  bodily  relief  to  their  charitable  minis¬ 
trations.  They  began  by  bringing  little  delicacies  to  the  sick 
by  way  of  refreshment  between  dinner  and  supper.  Shortly 
after,  they  rented  a  room  near  the  Hotel-Dieu  where  the 
sweetmeats  were  kept  and  prepared.  The  Daughters  of 
Charity  were  engaged  to  take  charge  of  the  purchasing  and 
preparing  of  the  necessary  things  and  to  assist  the  Ladies 
in  the  distribution.  More  substantial  food  was  then  added. 
As  the  work  progressed,  some  of  the  Ladies  were  assigned 
to  the  instruction  of  the  poor,  others  to  corporal  relief. 

The  cooperation  went  further.  With  the  permission  of 
the  superiors,  the  Ladies  engaged  two,  and  later  six,  priests 
for  the  instruction  of  the  men  and  for  the  Confessions  of 
all.  The  Ladies  paid  them  for  their  services. 

This  is  the  only  phase  of  St.  Vincent’s  work  where  we 
have  clear  evidence  of  defined,  systematic  cooperation  be¬ 
tween  his  organizations  and  other  charitable  agencies,  or 
even  between  one  of  his  organizations  and  another. 

The  relief  programme  of  Macon  was  rather  the  expres¬ 
sion  of  united  effort  on  the  part  of  the  people,  the  clergy, 
and  the  civil  authorities,  to  rid  the  city  of  the  menacing 
poor,  than  systematic  cooperation  among  independent 
bodies.  We  know  that  the  confraternity  of  Chatillon-les- 
Dombes  was  on  friendly  terms  with  the  hospital  of  the  town 
since  it  enjoyed  the  liberty  of  holding  its  monthly  meetings 
in  the  chapel  of  the  hospital.  Moreover,  “one  of  the  syndics 
and  the  rector  of  the  hospital”  were  invited  to  be  present 
when  the  treasurer  rendered  her  annual  account  and  the 


40  Abellv,  i.,  198-9. 


116 


THE  CHARITIES 


hospital  was  expected  to  furnish  the  shroud  and  have  the 
grave  dug  for  those  who  died  while  under  the  care  of  the 
confraternity.41  And  again,  two  constitutions  provide  that 
the  confraternity  receive  part  of  “the  annual  revenue  of 
the  hospital.”42  We  learn  also  from  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent 
that  exceptionally  the  sick  at  Quinze-Vingts  were  admitted 
to  the  care  of  the  confraternity  by  the  administrators  of 
the  hospital.43  Furthermore,  the  missioners  made  agree¬ 
ments  with  the  administrators  of  the  hospitals  in  the  provin¬ 
cial  towns  to  accept  “a  certain  number  of  sick  in  payment  of 
six  or  seven  sous  per  day  each.”44  But  in  all  these  cases  the 
records  fail  to  give  us  further  details  as  to  the  exact  rela¬ 
tions  between  the  two  respective  institutions. 

There  was  evidently  a  conscious  endeavor  on  the  part  of 
the  conferences  to  supplement  the  work  of  the  hospitals,45 
but  the  evidence  on  hand  warrants  no  conclusion  concerning 
systematic  cooperation.  Certain  of  the  city  officials,  too, 
could  assist  at  the  rendering  of  accounts,  but  here  again  we 
have  no  information  that  the  civil  authorities  really  co¬ 
operated  with  the  conferences.  The  same  is  true  of  the  city 
authorities  in  the  provinces  during  the  wars,  of  the  consuls 
of  the  Barbary  States,  as  also  of  the  religious46  who  were 
already  working  among  the  Christian  slaves  when  St.  Vin¬ 
cent’s  workers  entered  the  field.  The  records  furnish  only 
a  few  general  statements.47 


41  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  391,  394. 

42  Ibid.,  432,  418. 

43  Lett.,  i.,  312,  No.  289,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1640). 

44  Abelly,  ii.,  522. 

45  Cf.,  v.g.,  Abelly,  i.,  162. 

46  Order  of  the  Holy  Trinity  (Mathurins)  founded  by  John  of  Matha 
and  Felix  of  Valois  in  1198;  Order  of  the  Brothers  of  Mercy,  founded  by 
Peter  Nolascus  in  1223. 

47  V.g.,  in  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent  we  find  the  statement  that  “the  king 
gives  45, coo  livres  for  this  purpose  [to  assist  the  poor  religious  of  both 
sexes]  to  be  distributed  monthly  [by  the  congregation]  according  to  the 
order  of  the  superintendent  of  justice.’’  Lett.,  i.,  334,  No.  299,  To  M. 
Codoing  at  Annecy,  July  26,  1640;  cf.  also  Ibid.,  319,  No.  295,  To  M.  Du 
Coudray,  July  10,  1640.  Concerning  the  relations  between  the  members  of 
St.  Vincent’s  Congregation  and  the  consuls,  Abelly  (ii.,  128,  130)  says, 
“they  aided  one  another  mutually  with  great  unity  and  harmony.”  Con¬ 
cerning  the  religious  St.  Vincent  writes,  v.g.:  “You  need  expect  nothing 
of  the  Fathers  of  Mercy,  nor  of  the  Mathurins,  though  these  latter  give  11s 
reason  to  hope  for  more  help  than  the  former,  and  to  them  we  try  to  accom¬ 
modate  ourselves.”  Lett.,  ii.,  20,  No.  538,  To  M.  Novel,  Confrere  in  Algiers, 
Mar.  28,  1647;  cf.  also,  v.g.,  Lett.,  i.,  443,  No.  382;  Ibid.,  568,  No.  485. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


117 


As  far  as  is  known,  St.  Vincent  never  came  in  touch 
with  Theophraste  Renaudot,  who  was  engaged  in  philan¬ 
thropic  work  especially  among  the  workingmen  at  the  time. 
Neither  is  anything  known  of  his  relations  with  the  Com¬ 
pany  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  beyond  the  fact  that  he 
showed  personal  interest  in  their  charitable  endeavors  and 
was  himself  a  member. 

The  Ladies  and  Daughters  of  Charity  were  most  inti¬ 
mately  associated.  But  their  mutual  relations  can  hardly 
be  called  systematic  cooperation  in  the  present  acceptation 
of  the  term  in  the  field  of  social  service,  when  we  consider 
that  the  first  idea  of  St.  Vincent  in  originating  the  Daughters 
of  Charity  was  to  organize  a  band  of  earnest,  enthusiastic, 
and  reliable  workers  with  whom  to  replace  the  servants  of 
the  Ladies  who  visited  the  sick  more  as  a  matter  of  routine 
and  of  obligation  to  their  mistresses  than  out  of  love  for  the 
poor  sick. 

Moreover,  until  the  Daughters  of  Charity  received  their 
rule  (1646  and  1655),  they  were  considered  part  of  the 
organization  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,48  and  their  relations 
to  the  Ladies  were  rather  submission  to  their  direction  than 
mutual  cooperation.  St.  Vincent  himself  thus  defines  their 
conduct  towards  the  Ladies :  “It  is  for  them  to  order  and 
for  you  to  obey.  .  .  .  You  must  .  .  .  not  encroach  upon 
their  authority  in  any  way  by  ordering  things  yourselves, 
for  you  will  spoil  everything,  my  daughters,  you  will  ruin 
the  confraternity.  .  .  .  You  must  remember  they  give  their 
goods  for  the  maintenance  of  the  confraternity;  you  give 
only  your  time,  which  would  profit  nothing  without  their 
goods.  They  are  as  the  head  of  a  body  and  you  are  only  the 
feet.”49  And  even  after  the  Daughters  of  Charity  received 
their  rule  these  relations  do  not  seem  to  have  been  materially 
affected,  as  is  seen  from  their  rule  itself  and  from  the  con¬ 
ferences  of  St.  Vincent.50 


48  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  279,  282,  No.  26;  Abelly,  ii.,  634. 

49  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Snppl.),  167-8,  No.  1,  date  unknown. 

50  “They  shall  render  .  .  .  obedience  in  that  which  regards  the  service  of 
the  poor  ...  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  the  parishes  who  are  in  charge.” 
Regies  Communes,  chap,  iv.,  art.  4,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  346; 
v.g.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  614,  Explication  des  Regies  Particu- 
lieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  Aug.  24,  1659. 


118 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  only  information  we  have  concerning  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  engaged  in  different 
fields  of  work  is  contained  in  the  report  of  a  meeting  which 
St.  Vincent  held  with  the  Sisters.  Mile,  le  Gras,  at  the  re¬ 
quest  of  St.  Vincent,  proposed  two  Sisters  whom  she  con¬ 
sidered  qualified  to  be  put  in  charge  of  the  work  for  the 
poor  and  for  the  poor  infants,  respectively,  and  added  that 
though  separated  by  their  work,  they  “still  could  aid  each 
other  mutually  so  that  when  they  had  need  the  one  would 
not  say  to  the  other :  ‘This  is  not  my  affair.’  ”  And  Vincent 
heartily  endorsed  this  statement.51 

The  results  of  our  study  of  systematic  cooperation  in 
the  social  program  of  St.  Vincent  are,  therefore,  mostly 
negative  as  far  as  practical  conclusions  are  concerned.  This 
characteristic  of  his  work  may  be  explained  to  no  small 
extent  by  his  unaggressiveness.  If  an  agency  was  already 
at  work  in  a  field,  he  would  not  enter,  even  with  the  purpose 
of  cooperation,  unless  special  circumstances,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  the  Hotel-Dieu,  demanded  the 
contrary. 


51  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  300,  No.  3,  Conseil  du  19  Juin,  1647. 


CHAPTER  III 
Discrimination  in  Charity 
1.  The  Needy 

The  discriminating  care  and  relief  of  the  sick  and  poor 
necessitates  a  more  or  less  clearly  marked  distinction  among 
the  various  classes  of  the  needy.  St.  Vincent  made  this 
distinction. 

His  fundamental  distinction  was  made  between  the  able- 
bodied  poor  and  the  impotent  poor.  The  former  fell  into  two 
groups :  those  who  were  addicted  to  a  life  of  idleness  and 
consequent  poverty  from  personal  choice — the  professional 
tramp  and  beggar — and  those  whom  adverse  industrial  con¬ 
ditions  or  political  turmoils  had  temporarily  forced  below 
the  poverty  line. 

The  impotent  were  also  divided  into  two  groups,  accord¬ 
ing  as  they  were  totally  dependent  or  only  partially  so.  In 
the  group  of  the  totally  dependent  were  reckoned  the  “little 
children  of  four  to  seven  or  eight  years/’  the  sick  and 
crippled,  and  the  decrepit.  As  partially  helpless  were 
considered  those  whom  youth,  i.  e.,  “boys  of  eight  to  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,”  sickness,  or  old  age  hindered  from  gaining 
a  full  livelihood.1 

St.  Vincent’s  relations  to  these  various  classes  are  con¬ 
sidered  under  the  several  headings  Obligation  of  Earning 
One’s  Livelihood,  Rehabilitation,  Industrial  Training,  Relief. 

2.  Case  Investigation 

The  works  of  St.  Vincent  show  that  he  saw  the  necessity 
of  investigating  particular  cases  of  distress.  And,  though 
his  investigations  lacked  both  the  technique  and  the  thor¬ 
oughness  of  methods  employed  by  modern  social  agen- 

1  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi.) ,  430,  Reg.  pour  une  conf. 
de  char,  d’hommes  et  de  femmes  et  pour  l’ organisation  Pune  manufacture ; 
cf.  Ibid.,  412-3,  418. 


119 


120 


THE  CHARITIES 


cies,  still  they  were  sufficiently  thorough  to  insure  definite 
knowledge  of  the  particular  needs  of  a  case. 

In  the  first  place,  the  distinction  among  the  various 
classes  of  poor  which  St.  Vincent  insisted  upon  in  the  dis¬ 
tribution  of  alms,  presupposes  a  certain  amount  of  inves¬ 
tigation. 

A  check  on  the  careless  or  indiscriminate  admission  of 
the  poor  and  sick  to  the  care  of  the  confraternities  was 
found  in  the  prescription  of  the  various  constitutions  that 
no  one  officer  could  admit  the  poor  to  the  alms  of  the  asso¬ 
ciation.  He  or  she  had  to  consult  at  least  one  fellow 
officer.2 

Moreover,  the  constitutions  prescribe  that  the  confra¬ 
ternity  care  for  “the  sick  [who  are]  truly  poor  and  not  those 
who  have  means  of  relieving  themselves.1 ”  The  constitu¬ 
tion  for  the  united  confraternity  of  men  and  women  is  very 
emphatic  on  this  point.  It  reads :  “Since  the  conference 
has  been  instituted  for  persons  truly  poor  and  truly  sick,  the 
officers  will  admit  to  the  alms  of  the  association  only  those 
whom  they  judge  in  conscience  to  be  truly  poor  and  sick.”3 
Here  again  investigation  was  necessary  to  ascertain  the 
truly  needy  and  those  who  had  no  “means  of  relieving 
themselves.” 

Furthermore,  the  constitution  for  one  of  the  conferences 
demands  as  a  condition  for  admission  to  the  care  of  the 
confraternity  that  the  president  “give  a  certificate  that  she 
has  ascertained  that  they  [the  applicants]  are  poor,  resident 
of  the  parish  for  three  months,  and  sick  but  not  afflicted 
with  a  contagious  disease.”  She  bases  her  information  con¬ 
cerning  this  last  point  on  the  verdict  of  the  physician  who 
must  first  visit  the  patient.4  The  constitution  for  the  Ladies 
of  Saint-Sauveur  at  Paris  contains  similar  but  more  specific 
instructions.  It  says :  “Before  the  Ladies  go  to  see  the  sick, 
the  physician  .  .  .  goes  to  see  them  and  prescribes  what  is 


2  La  prieure  with  the  advice  of  at  least  one  of  her  assistants  (Ibid.,  391)  ; 
le  recteur  with  the  advice  of  la  prieure  or  the  assistant  (Ibid.,  403)  ;  la 
prieure  with  the  advice  of  le  recteur  and  one  assistant  (Ibid.,  405)  ;  le 
visit eur  with  the  advice  of  le  recteur  or  le  commandeur  (Ibid.,  414,  420)  ; 
le  prieur  with  the  advice  of  the  “recteur  et  autres  officiers”  (Ibid.,  421). 

3  Ibid.,  391,  404-5,  424- 

4  Ibid.,  384. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


121 


necessary  for  them  .  .  and  one  brings  these  prescriptions 
to  the  superioress  that  she  may  sign  them  and,”  with  the 
advice  of  other  officers,  “admit  the  said  sick  to  the  con¬ 
fraternity  if  she  ascertains  by  the  prompt  investigation 
which  she  makes  that  they  fulfil  the  required  conditions,  i.  e., 
that  they  have  been  resident  in  the  said  parish  for  three 
months  and  that  they  are  not  suffering  from  a  lingering 
illness.  .  .  .  The  said  physician  sends  a  written  certificate 
to  the  said  superioress  that  the  Ladies  can  go  to  them  without 
danger ;  or,  if  he  has  not  yet  been  able  to  learn  this  because  of 
secret  maladies,  he  gives  another  certificate  to  send  them 
such  food  as  he  judges  necessary.”5  In  these  regulations 
we  find  definite  lines  of  investigation  clearly  traced  out. 

Apart  from  the  instructions  contained  in  the  constitu¬ 
tions,  incidental  remarks  of  St.  Vincent  found  throughout 
his  letters  show  how  he  inquired  into  the  details  of  particu¬ 
lar  cases.  The  superior  of  the  Capuchin  Fathers  at  Sedan 
had  complained  to  St.  Vincent  that  the  priests  of  the  Mission 
wished  to  discontinue  the  charitable  contributions  they  had 
been  making  to  the  Fathers  for  a  long  time.  Before  deciding 
the  question,  St.  Vincent  asked  his  confrere,  the  superior 
of  Sedan,  for  information  on  a  number  of  points.  “I  beg 
you,  sir,”  he  writes,  “to  tell  me  how  much  one  has  given  them 
per  week  and  per  month  heretofore ;  whether  one  still  gives 
them  anything  and  what;  what  reasons  one  has  had  to 
retrench  this  alms  or  to  discontinue  it ;  whether  it  is  because 
it  is  easier  for  them  to  get  along  without  it  than  it  is  for  us 
to  give  it,  and,  finally,  what  is  the  sentiment  of  the  family 
[i.  e.,  your  community]  concerning  the  request  these  Fathers 
make  that  the  charity  be  reintroduced.  After  you  have 
given  me  information  on  all  this,  we  shall  see  what  it  is 
proper  to  do.”6  He  instructs  one  of  the  brothers  of  the 
Mission  who  was  laboring  in  the  devastated  provinces  to 
study  the  individual  needs  of  the  people  there.  He  writes : 
“The  Ladies  have  desired  that  I  ask  you  to  ascertain. adroitly 
in  each  canton  through  which  you  pass,  and  in  each  village, 
the  number  of  poor  there  who  have  need  of  being  clothed 


5  Ibid.,  452-3- 

6  Lett.,  iii.,  245,  No.  1203,  To  M.  Coglee,  Feb.  16,  1656. 


122 


THE  CHARITIES 


in  full  or  in  part  during  the  coming  winter.  ...  It  is  neces¬ 
sary  then  that  you  take  the  names  of  these  poor  people  in 
order  that,  at  the  time  of  the  distribution,  the  alms  be  for 
them  and  not  for  those  who  can  get  along  without  them. 
But  in  order  to  discriminate  well,  you  must  visit  them  in 
their  homes  to  learn  by  personal  observation  the  most  needy 
and  those  who  are  less  so.  But,  since  you  cannot  possibly 
make  all  these  visits  alone,  you  can  employ  persons  of  piety 
and  prudence  .  .  .  who  inform  you  sincerely  of  the  state 
of  each  one.  But  this  information  must  be  acquired  without 
the  poor  knowing  the  purpose ;  otherwise  those  who  already 
have  some  clothes  will  hide  them  so  as  to  appear  naked.”7 

Another  particular  case  well  worth  mentioning  is  the  fol¬ 
lowing.  A  poor  nobleman  had  been  recommended  to  the 
charity  of  the  Ladies.  It  had  been  reported  that  his  live 
stock  and  household  goods  had  been  stolen  and  his  crops 
destroyed.  St.  Vincent  inquired  into  the  case.  “The  Ladies 
would  like  to  know  from  you,”  he  wrote  to  the  brother  in 
the  provinces,  “whether  this  is  true ;  whether  nothing  re¬ 
mains  to  this  poor  nobleman  with  which  to  rehabilitate 
himself  or  to  subsist;  whether  he  has  any  children  and  how 
many.  Tell  us,  if  you  please,  all  that  you  can  ascertain.”8 9 

The  investigation  was  to  be  made  impartially.  The  final 
draft  of  the  constitution  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  demands 
that  the  members  “act  always  from  motives  of  the  pure 
love  of  God,  having  regard  only  for  the  greater  amount  of 
good  that  can  be  done,  and  not  for  the  places  and  persons 
who  have  been  recommended. ”d  An  earlier  constitution  is 
still  more  emphatic  and  explicit  on  this  point.  It  says: 
“In  order  that  favoritism,  which  is  the  ruin  of  good  works, 
may  not  slip  into  it  [the  confraternity],  the  said  officers, 
men  and  women,  upon  assuming  office,  shall  promise  that 
they  will  not  use  their  influence  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  have  admitted  to  the  benefits  of  the  said  association  any 
of  their  relatives,  special  friends  or  wards;  and  that,  even 

7  Ibid.,  508,  No.  1425,  To  Frere  Jean  Parre  at  Ham,  July  21,  1657. 

8  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  138,  No.  3115,  To  Frere  Jean  Parre  at  Saint- 
Quentin,  Sept.  6,  1659.  It  is  evidently  this  letter  which  Bongaud  ( History 
of  St.  Vincent  dc  P i.,  249)  erroneously  calls  “St.  Vincent’s  notebook,”  and 
Nutting  ( History  of  Nursing ,  i.,  414)  his  “careful  notes.” 

9  Art.  13,  Coste,  105. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


123 


if  some  other  officer  of  the  said  company  on  his  own  initia¬ 
tive  proposes  one  of  these,  they  shall  depart  as  being  in¬ 
capable  of  passing  judgment  on  this  point  which  concerns 
themselves,  and  will  leave  the  judgment  to  the  others.”10 

We  must  not  infer,  however,  that  strict  discrimination 
accompanied  all  of  St.  Vincent’s  charitable  works.  He 
seems,  for  example,  to  have  admitted  laymen  to  the  retreats 
of  Saint-Lazare  without  sounding  their  motives.  Upon  being 
told  one  day  that  among  the  many  that  came,  there  were 
some  who  did  not  turn  the  exercises  to  proper  advantage, 
he  replied :  “It  is  no  trifle  if  a  part  profit  by  them.”  When 
informed  further  that  some  seemed  to  attend  the  retreats 
for  the  sake  of  the  free  board  rather  than  from  spiritual 
motives,  he  said :  “Oh,  well,  an  alms  is  always  pleasing  to 
God.  If  you  make  their  reception  difficult  it  will  happen 
that  you  will  turn  away  some  whom  our  Lord  will  wish  to 
convert  by  this  retreat  and  the  excessive  exactitude  which 
you  will  manifest  to  examine  their  purpose  will  destroy  in 
some  the  desire  they  will  have  conceived  of  giving  them¬ 
selves  to  God.”* 11 

To  say  nothing  of  the  private  alms  which  he  distributed 
personally,  he  had  the  custom  for  many  years  of  doling  out 
alms  at  the  door  of  Saint-Lazare.  This  was  apparently  done 
without  investigating  the  individual  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  applicants.  Abelly  says  “bread  or  money”  was  given 
to  “the  poor  passers-by  at  all  hours  of  the  day,”  and  soup 
mixed  with  bread  was  “distributed  three  times  a  week  at  a 
regular  hour  to  all  the  poor  who  presented  themselves,  from 
whatever  place  they  came.”12  It  is  less  likely  still  that  any 
investigation  was  made  during  the  Fronde  when  the  estab¬ 
lishments  of  St.  Vincent  at  Paris  distributed  alms  to  more 
than  2,000  persons  daily.13 

Thus  we  see  that  St.  Vincent  recognized  the  necessity  of 
case  investigation  in  principle.  He  embodied  the  general 
outlines  of  such  investigation  in  his  various  constitutions 


10  Reg.  de  la  Confreric  de  la  Char,  d’hommes  ct  de  femmes,  Courboing, 
1622.  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  424. 

11  Abelly,  ii.,  354. 

12  Ibid.,  187. 

13  Lett.,  ii.,  155,  No.  643,  To  M.  Gaultier,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Feb.  25,  1649. 


124 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  made  use  of  a  more  detailed  examination  in  practice. 
It  is,  however,  impossible  to  state  to  what  extent  he  was 
in  this  matter  led  by  his  own  convictions,  and  to  what  extent 
he  was  influenced  by  the  officers  of  the  different  confraterni¬ 
ties  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  or  by  his  desire  to  relieve 
as  much  misery  as  possible  with  the  inadequate  amount  of 
alms  he  was  able  to  collect.  He  indicates  that  this  latter 
consideration  was  an  influencing  factor  when  he,  for  ex¬ 
ample,  writes :  “Ascertain  the  most  needy,  for  we  do  not 
intend  to  give  very  much.”  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a 
closer  study  of  the  evidence  shows  that  he  insisted  on  inves¬ 
tigation  when  it  was  a  question  of  giving  relief  through  an 
organization,  for  example,  the  confraternities,  or  with  the 
money  and  donations  of  others,  as  in  the  case  of  relieving 
the  provinces  with  the  alms  collected  at  Paris.  But  in  his 
personal  charities  and  in  the  use  of  the  revenues  of  St. 
Lazare  the  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  he  was  less 
discriminating. 

* 

3.  Case  Records 

As  far  as  is  known,  St.  Vincent  was  far  from  keeping 
records  of  all  the  cases  that  came  under  his  care.  Still  we 
know  that  he  caused  records  to  be  kept.  The  missionary, 
for  example,  who  distributed  alms  to  the  poor  religious  in  the 
provinces  for  a  number  of  years  demanded  a  receipt  from 
each  house  in  accordance  with  St.  Vincent’s  orders.14  These 
receipts,  whether  kept  in  book  form  or  not,  constituted  at 
least  the  skeleton  of  records. 

One  constitution  prescribes  that  the  custodian  of  the 
wardrobe  “shall  keep  an  account  of  the  articles  she  lends 
to  the  poor,  [also  an  account]  of  their  name  and  of  their 
residence.”15  The  relief  programme  of  Macon  ordained  that 


14:  Lett.,  i.,  319,  No.  295,  To  M.  du  Coudray,  July  10,  1640.  The  same 
letter  contains  orders  that  receipts  be  demanded  also  for  alms  given  to  the 
towns.  Cf.  also  Abelly,  ii.,  505. 

15  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  385.  We  cannot  lay  much  stress  on  this 
regulation,  however,  for  it  seems  to  have  been  prompted  more  by  the  desire 
of  avoiding  the  loss  of  articles  than  of  keeping  case  records  for  the  better 
care  of  the  poor.  We  read  in  another  constitution:  “She  [who  has  been  on 
duty  for  the  day]  shall  tell  her  [who  is  to  serve  on  the  following  day]  the 
name,  the  place,  the  number,  and  the  condition  of  the  sick  in  order  to  pre¬ 
pare  their  necessaries”  {Ibid.,  421).  But  we  are  not  told  that  this  informa¬ 
tion  was  committed  to  writing. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


125 


“a  list  be  made  of  all  the  poor  of  the  town  who  desired  to 
remain  there.”16 

More  complete  and  direct  evidence  is  found  in  still  an¬ 
other  of  St.  Vincent’s  constitutions.  The  procurator,  it 
reads,  “shall  have  a  register  in  which  ...  he  shall  write 
.  .  .  the  name  of  the  poor  sick  assisted  by  the  confraternity, 
the  day  of  their  reception,  of  their  death  or  recovery.”17 
But  the  closest  approach  to  the  modern  method  of  record 
keeping  is  contained  in  the  instruction  given  by  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul  to  the  two  members  of  his  Congregation  working 
among  the  Christian  captives  of  Tunis.  These  instructions 
say  in  part :  “Each  shall  be  careful  to  write  the  names  of 
the  captives  whom  they  will  assist,  together  with  the  amount 
which  they  will  distribute  to  them,  and  to  notify  each  other 
of  them,  in  order  that  both  may  not  give  to  the  same  person 
and  that  from  these  memoranda  the  said  M.  Levacher  [one 
of  the  two  workers  concerned]  may  be  able  to  show  by  the 
accounts,  which  he  shall  send  us  every  year,  to  whom  and 
how  much  has  been  given  every  month.”18 

Scanty  though  the  evidence  is,  it  suffices  to  show  that 
St.  Vincent  made  use  of  case  records,  however  primitive 
and  incomplete  in  comparison  with  modern  methods,  and 
that  he  was  convinced  of  their  practicality  or  even  neces¬ 
sity.19 


16  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  433. 

17  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  410;  Abelly,  ii.,  441-2. 

18  Lett.,  ii..  523. 

19  Discrimination  was  nothing  new  in  the  history  of  Catholic  charities.  It 
dates  back  to  the  very  first  ages  of  the  Christian  era.  Nor  do  St.  Vincent’s 
“principles”  on  Discrimination  in  Charity  embody  any  advanced  ideas  on  this 
point.  Cf.}  v.g.,  the  original  and  systematic  relief  programme  of  Juan  Luis 
Vives  (born  at  Valencia,  1492;  died  at  Bruges,  1540),  published  under  the 
title  of  De  subventione  pauperum:  she  de  humanis  necessitatibus,  Bruges, 
1526.  According  to  this  programme,  it  was  incumbent  upon  the  munici¬ 
pality  to  provide  for  its  needy.  Two  members  of  the  city  council,  accom¬ 
panied  by  a  secretary,  went  from  house  to  house  and  took  an  exact  account 
of  the  conditions  of  the  needy,  noting  the  name  of  each,  the  number  of  their 
children,  the  cause  of  their  misery,  and  the  kind  of  life  they  were  leading. 
Each  class  of  indigents  was  then  given  appropriate  and  proportionate  relief. 
See  Lallemand.  Histoire  de  la  Charite ,  vol.  iv.,  part  t,  pp.  10-261. 


CHAPTER  IV 


Revenues 

The  funds  necessary  for  St.  Vincent’s  numerous  chari¬ 
ties  came  from  a  variety  of  sources.  We  may,  however,  for 
the  sake  of  clearness  and  convenience  class  them  under  the 
two  captions  of  Private  Contributions  and  State  Aid.  The 
question  of  publicity  as  a  method  of  arousing  and  sustaining 
interest  and  enthusiasm,  and  hence  as  an  indirect  means 
of  procuring  funds,  also  suggests  itself  naturally  for  treat¬ 
ment  here. 

1.  Private  Contributions 

Provision  is  made  for  the  procuring  of  alms  in  the 
constitutions  of  all  the  conferences.  A  favorite  method, 
common  to  confraternities  of  both  men  and  women,  was  by 
collections.  When  a  confraternity  was  established  in  a  par¬ 
ish,  a  collection  was  usually  taken  up  at  once,  which  netted 
a  sum  of  money  more  or  less  large  according  to  the  size  and 
wealth  of  the  parish.  At  the  same  time,  clothes,  linens,  and 
other  commodities  necessary  for  the  care  of  the  poor,  were 
solicited.  Thereafter  collections  of  money  were  taken  up 
in  the  churches,  or  from  house  to  house,  and  only  on  Sun¬ 
days  and  feast  days,  or  daily.  Each  member  had  his  or  her 
turn  at  taking  up  the  collection.1  The  money  thus  collected 
was  entrusted  to  the  treasurer.  The  rector  or  the  procurator 
was  also  asked  in  some  cases  to  keep  a  record  of  it. 

The  poor  box  was  a  second  method  of  raising  funds. 


1  The  reglement  de  la  confrerie  de  charite  de  la  paroisse  de  Saint-Savenr, 
Paris,  1629,  drafted  by  St.  Vincent  after  twelve  years  of  experience  in  this 
particular  field,  contains  the  significant  clause:  The  collection  “is  made  by 
the  women  (femmes)  and  not  by  the  young  ladies  ( fillcs) . ”  Lett,  et  Confer, 
de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  453.  One  constitution  which  provides  for  no 
other  collection,  prescribes  that  “the  custodian  of  the  wardrobe  will  make 
a  collection  of  linen  with  the  treasurer  once  during  her  term  of  office.” 
Ibid.,  385.  Special  collections  were  taken  up  to  meet  extraordinary  needs ; 
i'.g.,  general  collections  in  the  parishes  of  Paris  for  the  Christian  captives. 
Cf.  Lett.,  iv.,  pp.  14,  21,  23',  31,  35,  36. 

127 


128 


THE  CHARITIES 


These  boxes  were  placed  both  in  the  churches  and  in  the 
inns  of  the  city.  The  landlady  was  instructed  to  admonish 
the  guests  and  the  travelers  to  contribute  their  mite.  .  The 
boxes  were  opened  every  month  or  every  two  months,  in  the 
presence  of  the  rector  of  the  association,  the  president  and 
the  treasurer,  or  even  of  all  the  officers.  Their  contents 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  treasurer  or  procurator. 
The  pastor  kept  one  record  and  the  treasurer  another.2 

Foundations  were  also  made  in  favor  of  the  confrater¬ 
nities.  The  first  purpose  of  the  procuratorship  in  the 
women’s  organizations  was  to  have  a  capable  man  to  man¬ 
age  the  foundations  and  to  turn  them  to  the  best  advantage 
of  the  confraternity  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
other  officers  without  whose  consent  he  could  enter  upon  no 
valid  contract  affecting  immovable  goods  of  the  confrater¬ 
nity.  He  was  obliged  to  render  frequent  account  to  the 
officers  concerning  the  state  of  the  affairs  entrusted  to  him.3 

Other  sources  were  direct  contributions  and  legacies.4 * 
Of  the  work  at  Macon  Abelly'1  says  :  “Everyone  is  voluntarily 
inclined  to  contribute  to  so  worthy  a  cause,  some  in  money, 
others  in  wheat,  or  in  other  commodities  according  to  their 
power.”  After  the  organization  of  one  of  the  Ladies’  confra¬ 
ternities  at  Paris,  they  were  asked  what  each  wished  to  con¬ 
tribute.  “The  one  will  say,”  continues  the  constitution,  “  T 
give  two,  three  sheets,’  and  the  others  some  shirts,  etc.,  and 
at  the  same  time  one  writes  it  down  for  fear  of  losing  know¬ 
ledge  of  it.  .  .  .”6  For  the  relief  of  the  devastated  provinces 
enormous  sums  were  donated  by  the  queen,  the  Ladies,  and, 
in  fact,  as  St.  Vincent  states  in  one  of  his  letters,  “all  Paris 


2  Ibid.,  397,  404,  422-3,  432.  In  one  of  the  confraternities  of  both  men 
and  women,  the  treasurer  of  the  women  could  not  open  the  poor  box  at  the 
inn  except  in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  men.  The  poor  box 
in  churches  and  inns  as  a  means  of  raising  funds  for  charity  was  in  common 
vogue  at  that  time. 

3  Ibid.,  389-90,  395-6,  423. 

4  Ibid.,  384,  404,  410,  418. 

3  Vol.  i.,  98. 

6  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.) ,  453-4.  Apart  from  this  constitution,  there  is 
only  one  other  which  makes  mention  of  any  special  contributions  from  the 
members.  The  final  constitution  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  Paris  obliges  all 
the  members  to  contribute  to  the  expenditures  agreed  upon,  as  also  to  con¬ 
tribute  money,  clothes,  etc.,  to  the  common  treasury  every  month  “according 
to  their  devotion.”  Coste,  104. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


129 


contributes  to  this  and  furnishes  all  things  necessary  to  man 
for  nourishment  and  clothing,  for  sicknesses  and  for  work.”7 * 

As  regards  legacies,  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  Paris  in 
one  of  their  meetings  thought  it  good  to  remind  the  dying 
“to  make  pious  legacies  in  favor  of  the  poor  of  whom  the 
conference  takes  care.”  St.  Vincent  heartily  approved  of 
the  idea  “to  suggest  this  thought  to  rich  persons  when  visit¬ 
ing  them  in  their  illnesses. ”s 

We  find  a  further  method  applied  in  the  men’s  con¬ 
fraternities  of  the  country  districts.  Each  member  of  the 
confraternity  was  requested  to  raise  according  to  his  ability, 
one,  two,  or  more,  sheep,  and  the  profits  accruing  from  them 
were  “sold  yearly  around  the  feast  of  St.  John  by  the  visitor, 
according  to  the  orders  given  him  by  the  directors  of  the 
said  association.”  The  sheep  were  branded  with  the  mark 
of  the  association,  and  the  brand  was  to  be  renewed  every 
five  years.9 

We  know,  too,  from  the  constitutions  that  part  of  the 
revenue  of  the  hospital  was  at  times  turned  into  the  treasury 
of  the  confraternities.  Finally,  in  the  confraternities  of  both 
men  and  women,  the  former  were  to  give  to  the  women  “the 
fourth  part  of  their  annual  revenue,  or  more  if  necessary.”10 

Practically  all  the  alms  collected  by  these  various 
method's  were  employed  directly  for  the  relief  of  the  poor. 
Only  an  insignificant  sum  was  expended  in  salaries  for  the 
workers,  since  the  vast  majority  of  these  were  volunteers,11 
and  St.  Vincent  was  very  insistent  that  all  the  alms  be  dis¬ 
tributed  strictly  according  to  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  intended  and  not  be  diverted  “to  any  other  use  under 


7  Lett.,  ii.,  379,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  No.  8 32,  Jan.  3,  1652. 

s  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  217. 

9  Ibid.,  413,  418.  St.  Vincent  thought  it  good  to  propose  to  the  people  of 
Quinze-Vingts  to  give  20  or  25  chickens  to  the  conference  of  that  place  to 
furnish  the  eggs  necessary  for  the  sick.  The  chickens  could  be  entrusted  to 
one  of  the  women,  a  member  of  the  confraternity.  Lett.,  i.,  312,  No.  289,  To 
Mile,  le  Gras  (1640). 

10  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  418,  426,  432. 

11  The  Daughters  of  Charity  received  their  means  of  support  from  a 
variety  of  sources.  Their  mother  house  at  Paris,  for  example,  was  sup¬ 
ported  by  money  which  the  Sisters  earned  by  working  during  their  spare 
moments,  by  contributions  from  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  by  ordinary  alms, 
and  by  the  revenue  accruing  from  a  royal  foundation  amounting  to  2,000 
livres  annually.  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  498;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la 
Charite,  ii.,  269;  cf.  also  Lett.,  iii.,  661. 


130 


THE  CHARITIES 


any  pretext  of  charity  whatsoever,”  and  especially  that  not 
the  least  part  of  them  be  appropriated  for  private  use.12 

2.  State  Aid 

St.  Vincent  solicited  and  received  aid  from  the  state. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  appeal  to  the  king  for  assistance  when 
necessity  demanded.  He  induced  the  king,  for  example, 
to  issue  letters  patent  which  conferred  upon  the  hospital  for 
galley  slaves  at  Marseille  12,000  livres  of  the  annual  revenue 
from  the  salt  tax.  He  obtained  for  the  foundlings  12,000 
livres  annually,  as  also  the  buildings  at  Bicetre,  which  had 
served  for  some  time  as  a  hospital  for  sick  soldiers.  And 
when  the  location  proved  insanitary  for  the  infants,  he 
hoped  that  it  might  “please  the  Parliament  of  the  city  to 
donate  another  [place].”13  He  likewise  obtained  from  the 
king  the  house  and  land  at  La  Salpetriere  for  the  General 
Hospital.  During  the  distress  of  the  provinces,  too,  he 
obtained  aid  from  the  crown.  He  received,  for  example, 
45,000  livres  from  the  king  for  the  religious  of  both  sexes 
of  these  districts.14 

St.  Vincent  always  approached  the  queen  mother  with 
confidence  in  all  h-is  needs.  She  gave,  for  example,  2,000 
livres  for  the  relief  of  the  impoverished  nobles  of  Lorraine 
and  6,000  for  the  assistance  of  poor  ecclesiastics.  On  one 
occasion,  when  she  had  no  money  on  hand,  she  gave  her 
jewels  valuing  7,000  livres,  and,  on  another  occasion,  jewels 
worth  18,000  livres.15 

We  know  likewise  that  Vincent  received  frequent  assist¬ 
ance  from  other  civil  officials.  The  king  and  queen  of 
Poland  lent  very  substantial  aid  to  both  the  priests  of  the 
Mission  and  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity.  Richelieu  estab¬ 
lished  a  conference  of  charity  at  Richelieu  and  endowed  it.16 

12  Lett.,  i.,  316-7,  No.  292,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Toul,  June  17,  1640; 
Ibid.,  iii.,  528,  562,  570,  653;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  614;  Ibid.,  ii., 
269,  273,  30/,  621,  etc.,  etc. 

13  Lett,  et  Confer.  ( Suppl .),  73,  No.  3049,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  April  5,  1649. 

14  Lett.,  i.,  334,  No.  299,  To  M.  Codoing  at  Annecy,  July  26,  1640.  4 

15  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  52,  No.  3030,  To  M.  Portail  at  Paris,  Oct.  14, 
1644;  Ibid.,  69,  No.  3046,  Jan.  3,  1648;  Abelly,  iii.,  178. 

16  Lett.,  i.,  206,  No.  201,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Mar.  22,  1638. 
St.  Vincent  received  much  other  financial  aid  from  the  Cardinal  through 
the  intervention  of  the  latter’s  niece,  the  Duchess  d’Aiguillon,  who  was  one 
of  St.  Vincent’s  most  ardent  associates  in  the  work  of  charity. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


131 


St.  Vincent  also  prevailed  upon  the  state  to  protect  the 
hospitals  and  their  revenues  against  the  soldiers  in  the 
provinces. 

Still,  in  all  these  instances,  it  was  a  particular  move  on 
the  part  of  the  state  to  meet  some  individual,  specific 
emergency.  We  nowhere  find  St.  Vincent  advocating  new 
social  legislation,  nor  urging  as  a  principle  the  state’s  obliga¬ 
tion  to  relieve  its  needy,  as  did,  for  example,  Joan  Luis 
Vives  a  century  earlier.17  It  is  true,  the  city  of  Macon  for¬ 
bade  begging  in  consequence  of  Vincent’s  relief  work  there, 
but  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  his  responsibility  in  the 
measure.  The  king  in  1656,  forbade  begging  in  Paris  and 
commanded  the  beggars  either  to  work,  or  to  leave  the  city, 
or  to  retire  to  the  Hopital-General.  But  St.  Vincent  was 
opposed  to  this  compulsory  clause  of  the  law  and,  moreover, 
legislation  against  vagrancy  and  mendicancy  was  nothing 
novel  in  France,  or  even  in  Paris,  at  the  middle  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century. 

The  evidence  on  record  points,  therefore,  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  St.  Vincent  turned  to  the  state  for  assistance 
in  his  work,  not  on  principle,  but  merely  from  expediency, 
i.  e.,  as  to  any  other  hopeful  source  of  assistance.  And 
probably  he  would  never  have  applied  to  the  king  for  help, 
had  sufficient  means  been  supplied  him  through  private 
endeavor.  He  seems,  at  least,  to  insinuate  in  one  of  his 
letters  that  the  asking  of  royal  aid  was  an  unpleasant 
alternative.  He  says :  ‘‘Although  the  king  has  given 
reason  to  hope  for  another  alms  .  .  .,  one  cannot  rely  upon 
it,  because  kings  promise  quickly  but  forget  to  fulfill  their 
promises,  at  least,  [they  forget]  to  have  persons  near  them 
to  remind  them  often  of  them.  But  we  have  none  here  who 
have  enough  charity  for  the  poor  and  liberty  with  the  king 
to  procure  this  benefit  for  them.”ls 

3.  Publicity 

We  find  apparently  contradictory  views  of  St.  Vincent 
on  the  question  of  publicity  as  an  indirect  medium  of  pro- 

17  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  vol.  iv.,  part  i.,  pp.  ii  sqq. 

18  Lett.,  iii.,  66i,  No.  1537,  To  M.  Delville,  Confrere  at  Arras,  Nov.  10, 

1657. 


132 


THE  CHARITIES 


curing  funds.  On  the  one  hand,  he  seems  bitterly  opposed 
to  all  that  savors  of  publicity.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  relates 
some  of  the  good  accomplished  by  his  agencies  and  concludes 
by  accusing  himself  of  violating  what  he  calls  “the  little 
maxim  we  have  of  not  writing  about  it.”19  He  is  deeply 
grieved  that  a  priest  of  the  Mission  published  a  eulogy  of 
the  Congregation  and  continues:  *‘God  has  given  me  the 
grace  to  remain  firm  thus  far  in  refusing  to  consent  that 
anything  be  published  which  makes  the  Company  known 
and  esteemed,  although  I  have  been  hard  pressed  to  do  s <5, 
particularly  as  regards  some  accounts  that  have  come  from 
Madagascar,  the  Barbary  States,  and  the  Hebrides;  and 
still  less  would  I  have  permitted  the  publication  of  a  thing 
which  touches  upon  the  essence  and  the  spirit,  the  birth  and 
the  progress,  the  functions  and  the  end  of  our  Institute.”20 
“It  seems  to  me,”  he  says  again,  “that  we  ought  to  make  a 
special  effort  not  to  make  ourselves  known  so  much  by  writ¬ 
ings,  publications  and  accounts,  ...  as  to  do  so  by  good 
works  which  sooner  or  later  will  speak  a  language  more 
advantageous  than  all  one  does  for  personal  show  and 
manifestation.”21 

Abelly  relates  that  the  superior  of  the  Irish  missions  once 
asked  St.  Vincent  if  he  should  compile  a  brief  account  of 
the  activities  of  the  priests  in  Ireland.  He  received  the  reply 
“that  it  was  sufficient  that  God  knew  all  that  was  done  and 
that  the  humility  of  our  Lord  demanded  that  the  little  Com¬ 
pany  of  the  Mission  hide  itself  in  God  with  Jesus  Christ  to 
honor  His  hidden  life.”22  Similarly  the  priests  of  the  Mis¬ 
sion  who  were  laboring  in  the  devastated  provinces  asked 
St.  Vincent  if  they  should  receive  from  the  different  cities  a 
certificate  of  the  assistance  rendered,  as  they  had  done  from 
the  city  of  Toul.  Vincent  answered  that  “it  sufficed  that 
God  alone  had  knowledge  of  their  works  and  that  the  poor 

19  Lett.,  ii.,  438,  No.  878,  To  M.  Lagault,  Doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  at 
Rome,  June  21,  1652. 

20  Lett.,  iii.,  414,  No.  1340,  To  M.  Delville,  Confrere  at  Arras,  Feb.  7, 
1657.  Still  when  a  certain  parish  priest  requested  information  concerning 
the  manner  of  life  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  St.  Vincent  told  a  Sister 
“that  she  should  tell  him  everything  and  that  she  should  conceal  nothing.” 
Lett.,  i.,  170,  No.  166,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1637). 

21  Lett.,  i.,  412,  No.  357, 'To  M.  Codoing,  Supr.  at  Rome,  July  2,  1642. 

22  Abelly,  ii.,  199. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


133 


were  relieved  by  them,  without  wishing  to  produce  other 
testimony.”23 

St.  Vincent  was,  in  fact,  so  habitually  silent  concerning 
his  works  that  Abelly  says  even  “those  of  his  Company  knew 
but  a  part  of  his  many  holy  undertakings  and  of  the  many 
spiritual  and  corporal  charities  he  practised  towards  all 
classes  of  persons.”  “And  there  is  no  doubt,”  he  adds  “that 
many  of  his  confreres  will  be  astonished  to  read  in  this  work 
[La  Vie  de  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  which  was  published  four 
years  after  the  servant  of  God  had  passed  to  his  eternal 
reward]  a  great  number  of  which  they  have  never  had  any 
knowledge.”24 

On  the  other  hand,  St.  Vincent  requests  the  various 
superiors  to  keep  a  record  of  notable  events.  He  says :  “I 
ask  you  :  1.  To  preserve  henceforth  the  letters,  of  whatever 
they  treat,  which  one  will  write  to  you  and  to  those  of  your 
house  when  they  contain  some  notable  particular  which  can 
be  of  any  consequence,  or  which  can  serve  as  instruction  for 
the  future  .  .  . ;  2.  to  take  note  during  the  year  of  the  most 
noteworthy  events,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  which  take 
place  in  your  house  and  in  the  missions,  and  other  exercises 
outside  the  house,  and  to  put  them  in  the  form  of  a  letter, 
around  the  feast  of  St.  John,  at  which  time  the  missions  are 
ordinarily  finished,  and  to  send  the  said  letter  to  us  that  we 
may  write  a  circular  if  we  think  fit.”25  And  again  he  asks 
them  “to  take  care  that  in  each  house  of  the  Company  one 
makes  a  collection,  if  one  has  not  already  begun  to  do  so,  of 
all  the  missions  which  will  be  given  in  the  future,  as  also  of 
those  which  are  being  given  at  present,  noting  the  following 
circumstances  as  carefully  as  possible :  1.  the  place  and 

diocese  of  each  mission ;  2.  the  month  and  the  year  in  which 
it  is  given ;  3.  how  far  the  place  is  distant  from  the  city  where 
our  house  is  established;  4.  how  many  Communions  there 
are ;  5.  how  many  workers  [missionaries]  and  who  has  the 
direction  of  them ;  6.  how  long  it  lasted ;  7.  if  it  was  success¬ 
ful  or  not,  and  why;  8.  in  what  time  it  is  preferable  to  make 
it;  9.  if  a  conference  of  charity  is  established  there;  10.  if 

23  Ibid.,  488. 

24  Abelly,  iii.,  274-5. 

25  Lett.,  iv.,  520,  No.  1992. 


134 


THE  CHARITIES 


there  are  any  heretics  there;  and  other  notable  circum¬ 
stances. ,,2S 

Moreover,  St.  Vincent  employed  all  available  methods  of 
publicity  to  excite  the  interest  of  the  public  in  the  distress 
of  the  frontier  provinces.  His  work  was  commended  and  aid 
solicited  from  the  pulpits  of  the  various  churches  of  Paris.27 
The  priests  of  the  Mission  working  in  the  stricken  districts 
sent  letters  to  St.  Vincent  in  which  they  depicted  the  extreme 
misery  of  the  people  and  related  the  good  that  was  being 
accomplished.  Vincent  read  these  letters  at  the  meetings  of 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  sent  them  to  other  places  where 
they  passed  from  hand  to  hand  making  their  appeal  for  aid.28 

Many  of  these  letters,  however,  were  put  to  still  greater 
advantage.  As  St.  Vincent  tells  us,  “accounts  are  compiled 
from  them  and  printed.  These  the  Ladies  distribute  in  the 
homes  of  the  rich  and  go  there  to  ask  alms.”29  The  first 
edition  of  these  accounts,  called  Relations,  was  printed  in 
September,  1650.  It  was  distributed  wherever  there  was 
hope  of  obtaining  alms,  in  Paris,  and  even  through  the 
provinces.  It  proved  very  successful,  and  other  editions  fol¬ 
lowed  at  more  or  less  regular  intervals  until  December,  1655. 
In  all,  twenty-nine  numbers  appeared.  Ordinarily  three  or 
four  thousand  copies  of  four  pages  in  quarto  were  printed 
in  each  edition. 

These  Relations  were  composed  for  the  main  part  of 
letters  from  St.  Vincent’s  missionaries  in  the  devastated 
provinces,  in  which  they  depicted  the  misery  of  the  people 


20  Ibid.,  521,  No.  1993. 

27  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  660;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  224. 

28  “One  is  accustomed  to  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity, 
which  is  held  for  the  assistance  of  the  poor  of  the  frontiers  of  Champagne 
and  Picardy,  the  letters  which  are  sent  to  us  by  our  brother  Jean  Parre,  who 
is  employed  in  the  distribution  of  the  alms  which  these  good  ladies  send 
thither  every  week’’  ( Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  193,  No. 
63,  Confer,  du  9  Jilin,  1656).  Cf.  also  letters  to  Jean  Parre,  Lett.,  iii.,  563, 
No.  1470,  Sept.  8,  1657;  Ibid.,  628,  No.  1511,  Oct.  20,  1657;  Ibid.,  639,  No. 
1522,  Oct.  27,  1657;  Lett.,  iv.,  233,  No.  1759,  Nov.  23,  1658 ;~Ibid.,  236,  No. 
1762,  Nov.  30,  1658;  Ibid.,  245,  No.  1770,  Dec.  21,  1658.  At  other  times  he 
would  send  similar  letters  to  an  individual  lady  who  he  knew  was  particu¬ 
larly  interested;  v.g.,  a  letter  of  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  he  sent  to  the 
Duchess  of  Aiguillon,  who  had  the  interests  of  the  hospital  at  that  place 
very  much  at  heart  {Lett.,  iv.,  No.  1757,  To  M.  Get,  Nov.  22,  1658).  Cf. 
also  Lett.,  ii.,  590.  No.  1004,  Au  Frere  Jean  Parre,  at  Saint-Quentin,  Nov. 
29,  1653;  Abelly,  ii.,  491. 

29  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28,  1656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


135 


and  pleaded  for  alms.  Occasionally  letters  from  the  parish 
priests  and  civil  officials  of  the  provinces  were  added.  At 
the  end  of  each  number  were  mentioned  the  names  of  the 
persons  designated  to  receive  the  contributions ;  namely,  the 
parish  priests  of  Paris,  the  president  of  the  Ladies  of 
Charity,  Mme.  de  Herse,  a  very  prominent  member  of  the 
confraternity,  and,  after  May,  1652,  Mile,  de  Lamoignon, 
also  a  prominent  member. 

‘  Though  St.  Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity  were 
undoubtedly  the  principal  collaborators  in  the  publication 
of  the  Relations,  still  Vincent  was  neither  the  founder  nor 
the  director  of  the  work.  Some  authors  give  the  credit  to 
the  Jansenist,  Charles  Maignart  de  Bernieres,  but  more 
probably  it  is  due  to  one  of  St.  Vincent’s  intimate  asso¬ 
ciates.30 

We  have  further  evidence  of  St.  Vincent’s  belief  in  pub¬ 
licity  when  he  had  hopes  of  thereby  arousing  the  interest  and 
enthusiasm  of  others  for  the  cause  of  charity. .  The  queen 
mother  once  donated  highly  valued  jewels  to  be  sold  for 
charity  with  the  request  to  suppress  the  name  of  the  donor. 
Vincent  nevertheless  felt  obliged  to  publish  it.  He  said  to 
her  :  “Madame,  I  ask  your  majesty  to  pardon  me  if  I  cannot 
conceal  an  act  of  charity  so  noble.  It  is  good,  Madame,  that 
all  Paris  and  even  all  France  know  it,  and  I  feel  obliged  to 
publish  it  wherever  I  can.”31  This  incident  clearly  shows 
that  in  St.  Vincent’s  estimation  publicity  for  a  good  end  was 
entirely  compatible  with  the  practice  of  charity. 

A  closer  study  of  these  various  views  of  St.  Vincent  on 
publicity  leads  us  to  the  following  conclusions.  In  the  first 
place,  he  was  strenuously  opposed  to  publicity  regarding  the 
rule  of  the  Priests  of  the-  Mission  and  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  as  also  of  their  works.  Publicity  in  these  matters,. 


30  Coste,  36-8;  Abelly,  i.,  413-4,  Pieces  Justificatives,  V.;  Feillet,  229-33. 
Th z  Relations  were  an  innovation  as  a  medium  of  publicity  in  the  field  of 
charity.  There  was,  however,  considerable  literature  on  the  question  of 
charity  published  at  this  period;  v.g.,  VAumone  chre-tienne  et  ecclesiastique , 
of  Jansenistic  authorship;  Exhortation  aux  Parisiens  sur  les  secours  des 
pauvres,  48  pp.,  Antoine  Godeau,  Bishop  of  Grasse  and  Vence,  1652;  Maga - 
sin  charitable,  similar  to  the  Relations,  1653;  VAdvis  important ;  le  Nouvel 
-Advts  important ;  la  Suite  du  nouvel  ad:  is  important  de  Petat  deplorable  des 
pauvres  du  Blaisons  et  de  quelques  autrcs  provinces,  all  appearing  about  1660. 

31  Abelly,  iii.,  178-9. 


136 


THE  CHARITIES 


he  said,  would,  on  the  one  hand,  violate  humility  and,  on  the 
other,  arouse  the  envy  of  others.32 

Secondly,  he  desired  to  have  the  works  and  successes  of 
his  Company  recorded,  not  for  general  publication,  but  for 
the  mutual  edification  and  instruction  of  the  brethren.33 

Thirdly,  he  learned  by  experience  the  practical  value  of 
bringing  the  needs  of  the  poor  to  the  notice  of  the  public  and 
for  a  number  of  years  contributed  to  the  printing  and  dis¬ 
tribution  of  leaflets  in  behalf  of  charity.34 

32  Lett.,  iii.,  414,  No.  1340,  To  M.  Delville,  Confrere  at  Arras,  Feb.  7, 
1657;  Ibid.,  312,  No.  1258,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  July  14,  1656; 
Abelly,  iii.,  354.  His  quiet,  unpretentious  manner  of  procedure  was  without 
doubt  a  factor  in  his  success. 

33  For  the  same  reason,  he  encouraged  by  his  example  the  exchange  of 
letters  within  the  Congregation,  relating  the  undertakings  and  successes  of 
the  brethren;  v.g.,  Lett.,  i.,  241,  No.  232,  To  M.  de  Sergis  at  Toulouse,  Feb. 
3,  1639- 

34  In  doing  so,  he  was  not  extolling  the  works  of  his  Congregation  in 
violation  of  his  own  principle,  but  merely  stressing  the  sad  plight  of  the 
poor  and  keeping  the  contributors  informed  regarding  the  good  results 
accomplished  through  their  contributions.  For  while  St.  Vincent  both 
inspired  and  directed  this  vast  undertaking,  it  was,  in  a  sense,  the  work  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Paris. 


CHAPTER  V 


The  Personnel 
1.  The  Social  Worker 

A.  The  Various  Classes  Engaged  in  Social  Service 

Social  service,  to  the  mind  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  was 
not  restricted  by  sex,  state  of  life,  or  social  status.  We  find 
that  he  employed  both  men  and  women.  Married  women, 
widows  and  young  ladies  were  admitted  without  any  dis¬ 
crimination  into  his  many  conferences.  Girls  of  the  peas¬ 
antry  formed  the  beginnings  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity. 
The  women  of  the  towns  and  villages  labored  for  the  sick 
and  the  poor  of  the  country  districts.  The  elite  of  French 
society  and  even  the  queen  mother  and  the  ladies  of  her  court 
had  their  special  confraternities  of  charity. 

A  glance  at  the  works  of  St.  Vincent  shows  that  women 
played  a  far  more  important  role  in  his  social  activities  than 
did  the  men.  St.  Vincent  disclosed  his  idea  of  systematizing 
charity  at  Chatillon-les-Dombes  to  “some  of  the  most  zealous 
and  wealthy  women  of  the  parish/’  and  with  their  advice  and 
cooperation  organized  the  conference  of  charity  that  served 
as  the  model  for  the  numerous  others  that  very  soon  dotted 
all  France.  To  Mme.  de  Gondi  is  due  the  real  credit  of 
founding  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission.  Mile,  le  Gras 
cooperated  with  St.  Vincent  in  organizing  the  Daughters  of 
Charity;  she  was,  in  fact,  his  most  reliable  and  useful  aid 
throughout  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  charitable  career. 
When  St.  Vincent  determined  to  care  for  the  foundlings  he 
immediately  consulted  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  Paris ;  they 
undertook  to  finance  the  enterprise  and  continued  to  do  so 
even  at  a  great  sacrifice.  It  was  principally  through  these 
same  Ladies  of  Charity  that  St.  Vincent  procured  the  vast 
sums  of  money  necessary  for  the  alleviation  of  distress  in 
the  provinces.  They,  too,  conceived  and  fostered  the  project 

137 


138  • 


THE  CHARITIES 


of  erecting  the  Hopital-General  for  the  poor  of  Paris.  The 
Duchess  d’Aiguillon  rendered  invaluable  financial  aid  to  St. 
Vincent  principally  in  his  work  among  the  Christian  cap¬ 
tives.  And,  finally  the  conference  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity 
at  Paris,  proved  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  training  school  from 
which  went  forth  foundresses  of  various  other  charitable 
institutions  and  congregations. 

We  find  a  band  of  pious  and  zealous  men  organized  under 
the  leadership  of  M.  de  Renti  to  assist  the  impoverished 
nobles.  Apart  from  these,  we  find  the  men  organized  for 
social  service  only  in  combination  with  the  women.1  These 
latter  organizations  did  not  prove  successful.  As  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  himself  said,  the  men  were  inclined  to  arrogate  the 
administration  entirely  to  themselves  and,  “because  of  the 
common  purse,  it  was  found  necessary  to  remove  the  men” 
from  the  board  of  directors.  After  thus  criticizing  the 
behavior  of  the  men,  he  adds :  “And  I  can  bear  this  testi¬ 
mony  in  favor  of  the  women,  that  there  is  nothing  to 
criticize  in  their  administration,  so  great  is  their  care  and 
fidelity.”2 

There  is  no  evidence  by  which  we  can  gauge  the  relative 
efficiency  and  success  of  the  married  women,  widows,  and 
young  ladies  working  in  the  various  conferences.  We  find 
but  two  mentions  made  of  discrimination  among  them.  In 
the  constitution  of  the  conference  of  Saint-Sauveur’s  parish 
at  Paris  we  read  that  the  “collection  is  made  by  the  women 
and  not  by  the  young  ladies.”3  The  final  draft  of  the  con¬ 
stitutions  for  the  Ladies  of  Charity  demands  that  the  officers 
be  chosen  “from  among  the  widows  and  the  young  ladies, 
and  not  from  among  the  married  women.”4 

The  peasant  girls,  under  the  direction  and  training  of 
St.  Vincent  and  Mile,  le  Gras,  proved  very  successful.  The 
women  of  the  towns  and  villages,  too,  were  competent 
workers.  The  society  women  of  Paris  failed  as  visiting 
nurses,  but  they  took  a  personal  and  direct  interest  in  St.' 

1  We  do  not  here  include  the  Priests  and  Brothers  of  the  Congregation 
of  the  Mission  ;  their  field  was  primarily  the  spiritual,  although  a  number 
of  them  labored  indefatigablv  for  the  relief  of  the  provinces. 

2  Lett.,  ii.,  270,  No.  735,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Sept.  2,  1650. 

3  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  453. 

4  Coste,  100. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


139 


Vincent’s  works  throughout,  and  rendered  him  invaluable 
service,  especially  by  financing  his  undertakings. 

B.  The  Trained  Social  Worker 

As  far  as  is  known,  the  social  workers  of  the  conferences 
underwent  no  systematic  preparation  before  entering  upon 
their  duties.  Their  training  was  limited  to  the  general 
instructions  contained  in  their  respective  constitutions  and 
to  the  advice  that  the  more  experienced  were  able  to  give.5 

But  with  the  first  Daughters  of  Charity,  the  necessity 
of  some  training  was  brought  home  to  St.  Vincent.  The 
workers  in  the  towns  and  villages  were  older,  more 
experienced  and  remained  under  the  influences  of  home 
environments.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  were  a  number  of 
inexperienced,  and  often  ignorant,  peasant  girls  devoting 
their  full  time  to  the  care  of  the  sick  in  a  large  city.  St. 
Vincent  and  Mile,  le  Gras,  it  is  true,  gave  them  what  advice 
they  considered  necessary  to  aid  them  in  their  relations  both 
towards  the  Ladies  under  whom  they  were  placed,  and 
towards  the  poor  sick. 

But  this  did  not  prove  sufficient.  The  girls  were  unequal, 
in  point  of  character  as  well  as  efficiency,  to  the  demands 
made  upon  them.  We  shall  quote  from  the  letters  of  St. 
Vincent  in  illustration.  “The  lady  officers  of  Saint-Germain- 
l’Auxerrois,”  he  says  in  one  of  them,  “were  here  yesterday 
to  make  bitter  remonstrances  concerning  our  Sister  Marie, 
not  so  much  to  withdraw  her,  as  to  have  girls  who  know 
how  to  serve  and  to  make  the  compositions  and  the  remedies ; 
[they  complained]  that  the  companion  of  Marie  knows 
nothing,  not  even  the  homes  of  the  Ladies,  so  that  she  can 
notify  them.  .  .  .  You  must  see  how  to  remove  this  girl 
and  whom  you  will  send  in  her  place,  or  rather  [how]  to 
give  them  some  other  one  who  knows  how  to  make  the 
compositions  and  has  had  some  experience.  This  shows 
the  necessity  of  your  coming  to  this  parish,  and  of  all  your 
girls  being  well  trained.”6  “Dismiss  Jeanne,”  he  says  in 

5  Mile,  le  Gras  visited  the  various  conferences  of  the  towns  and  villages, 
encouraged  the  members  to  acquit  themselves  worthily  of  their  duties,  in¬ 
structed  them  in  the  service  of  the  sick,  and  suggested  methods  of  procuring 
the  relief  and  salvation  of  their  patients.  Abelly,  i.,  156,  160. 

6  Lett.,  i.,  1 1 5,  No.  no,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  1635. 


140 


THE  CHARITIES 


another  of  his  letters,  “and  tell  her  it  is  for  having  struck 
her  companion  .  .  and  tell  the  others  that  this  is  not  the 
first  time  that  she  has  struck  [them]  ;  that  she  has  been 
pardoned  for  the  others,  but  that  the  scandal  will  be  too 
great,  and  that  it  must  not  be  said  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity,  that  they  strike  one  another  like  dog  and  cat.”7 
To  cite  from  another  letter :  “It  will  be  very  difficult,”  he 
says,  “to  maintain  these  creatures  in  the  state  necessary 
to  have  things  go  well.  Those  of  the  parish  of  Saint-Saveur, 
since  their  rebellion,  are  not  so  careful  and  they  complain 
much ;  they  will  see  in  the  course  of  time  the  harm  they  are 
doing.”8 

The  dates  of  these  letters  show  that  they  were  written 
after  St.  Vincent  had  introduced  a  course  of  training  for  his 
Daughters  of  Charity.  We  may  justly  conclude,  therefore, 
that  similar  disorders  occurred  more  frequently  in  the 
beginning  and  that  it  was  these  that  taught  St.  Vincent  the 
necessity  of  training  his  nurses  before  assigning  them  to 
work. 

In  the  beginning  a  trial  was  made  of  three  or  four  of  the 
more  capable.  They  were  placed  under  the  direction  of  Mile, 
le  Gras  in  her  home  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Nicolas-du-Char- 
donnet.  This  was  in  the  year  1633.  As  the  number 
increased,  they  were  transferred  to  another  house  in  the 
village  of  la  Chapelle,  half  a  league  from  Paris.  This  place 
was  chosen  as  well  fitted  to  train,  nourish,  and  clothe  the 
girls  after  the  manner  of  the  poor,  among  whom  they  were 
to  work.  About  the  year  1642,  however,  they  returned  to 
Paris  and  established  themselves  in  more  commodious  quar¬ 
ters  in  the  suburb  of  Saint-Lazare,  where  they  remained 
until  the  French  Revolution. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  training  given  to  the  first 
Daughters  of  Charity,  Abelly  merely  says  in  a  summary 
manner  “that  it  was  necessary  to  take  particular  care  to 
train  them  for  the  service  of  the  sick,  to  teach  them  to  bleed 
[the  patients],  and  to  prepare  the  remedies,  and,  still  more, 
to  train  and  form  them  in  the  exercise  of  prayer  and  of 


7  Ibid.,  165,  No.  161,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  1637. 

%  Ibid.,  170,  No.  166,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  1637. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


141 


spiritual  life.”0  But  from  St.  Vincent’s  letters  and  confer¬ 
ences  we  are  able  to  glean  a  few  details. 

In  the  first  place,  St.  Vincent  from  the  beginning  fol¬ 
lowed  the  policy  of  placing  all  the  young  recruits  in  one 
house  under  the  guidance  of  a  competent  directress.  Mile, 
le  Gras  filled  this  position  for  a  period  of  fifteen  years; 
thereupon  a  mistress  of  novices  was  appointed.10  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  adopted  this  method  because  convinced,  in  the  light  of 
experience,  of  its  advantages  over  individual  training.  He 
himself  says  on  this  point :  “Formerly  in  many  houses,  and 
particularly  at  the  Hotel-Dieu,  it  was  done  as  follows :  The 
new  comer  was  placed  under  an  older  [Sister]  that  she 
might  train  her  and  have  charge  of  her.  But  it  was  found 
that  the  nieces  bound  themselves  in  such  a  manner  to  their 
aunts — so  they  called  them — that  partialities  were  practised 
which  put  the  houses  in  disorder.  Hence  one  thought  it 
better  to  appoint  a  mistress  who  had  care  of  the  novices,  and 
they  were  all  placed  together.”11 

The  training  ordinarily  lasted  from  six  months  to  a 
year.12  Most  probably  the  length  was  determined  in  the 
individual  case  by  the  docility  and  natural  talent  of  the 
novice.  But  pressed  as  St.  Vincent  was  for  workers,  we  can 
be  sure  that  the  training  was  completed  in  as  short  a  time  as 
possible.13 

We  have  the  broad  outlines  of  the  first  training  school 
of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  from  St.  Vincent  himself.  The 
novices,  he  says,  are  generally  more  than  thirty  in  num¬ 
ber.  Mile,  le  Gras  employs  some  of  them  “to  instruct  the 

little  girls  of  the  poor  who  come  to  school  at  her  house ; 
- — —  i 

9Vol.  i.,  167. 

10  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  91 ;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  314-5, 
No.  4.  Conseil  du  30  Octohre,  1647. 

11  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  314-5.  Concerning  these  disorders,  cf.,  v.g., 
Nutting,  i.,  318-9. 

12  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  499,  1646. 

13  St.  Vincent  gives  us  an  insight  into  his  plight  when  he  writes :  “It  is  to 
our  deep  regret  that  we  cannot  pledge  ourselves  to  give  two  Daughters  of 
Charity  to  the  hospital  of  Saint-Malo  within  a  month  or  two,  because  Mile, 
le  Gras  has  none  in  readiness  and  it  takes  a  long  time  to  train  them  well. 
The  Bishop  of  Angers  has  waited  two  years  to  procure  two  for  a  hospital 
and  we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  send  them.  Many  others  are  also  waiting, 
to  whom  we  ought  to  give  assent  before  pledging  ourselves  elsewhere.” 
Lett.,  iii.,  331,  No.  1276,  To  a  Confrere  at  Rennes,  Aug.  26,  1656.  Cf.  also 
Abelly,  ii.,  458. 


142 


THE  CHARITIES 


others  to  visit  the  sick  of  the  parish,  bringing  to  them  food 
or  medicines,  or  nursing  them;  others  to  let  the  blood  and 
dress  the  sores  of  the  poor  who  come  to  them  from  without 
for  this  purpose ;  others  to  sew  or  to  do  similar  work ;  others 
to  learn  to  read  or  write ;  others  to  perform  the  little  house¬ 
hold  duties ;  all  according  to  the  orders  given  them.”14  It  is 
evident  from  this  sketch  that  the  training  of  the  Daughters 
of  Charity  was  acquired  by  coming  in  actual  contact  with 
their  problems,  and  that  it  extended  to  all  the  phases  of  the 
work  in  which  they  were  afterwards  to  be  engaged.15  It  was 
St.  Vincent’s  desire  that  all  the  novices  learn  to  read  and 
write.  “How  I  desire,”  he  writes  to  Mile,  le  Gras,  “that 
your  girls  exercise  themselves  in  learning  to  read.  .  .  .!”16 
And  in  one  of  his  conferences  he  says :  “It  is  very  desirable 
that  all  know  it”  [i.'e.  how  to  read  and  write].17 

Still  the  rule  which  he  gave  his  Daughters  of  Charity 
seems  to  discriminate.  It  speaks  of  “those  who  ivill  have 
'permission  to  learn  to  write”  and  of  “those  who  have  per¬ 
mission  to  learn  to  read  and  write.”  These,  it  says,  can 
use  for  that  purpose  “at  most  a  half  hour  after  dinner,  at 
the  time”  appointed  by  the  superioress,  but  so  that  they 
“in  no  way  prejudice  the  service  of  the  poor  or  any  of  the 
duties  of  the  Company.”  On  Sundays  another  half  hour 
was  assigned  for  the  same  purpose  and  under  the  same 
restrictions.18 

The  purpose  St.  Vincent  had  in  view  in  advocating  the 
education  of  his  social  workers  is  evident  from  his  own 
words  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  in  one  of  his  confer¬ 
ences.  He  says :  “Apply  yourselves  to  learn  to  read,  not  for 

14  Memoir e  adresse  a  Varcheveque  de  Paris  pour  obtenir  l’ erection  des 
filles  de  la  charite,  en  confrcrie,  1646,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  49 8. 

15  St.  Vincent  was  convinced  from  experience  that  this  general  training 
at  the  mother  house  better  fitted  a  novice  for  the  life  of  a  Daughter  of 
Charity  than  did,  for  example,  a  more  specialized  training  in  a  house  of 
the  missions.  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  14,  No.  2093. 

16  Lett.,  i.,  265,  No.  253  (1639).  The  educational  opportunities  offered 
throughout' France  were  at  this  period  inoperative  to  a  great  extent,  espe¬ 
cially  in  the  country  districts.  St.  Vincent  seems  not  at  all  surprised  that 
many  of  the  novices  from  the  country  knew  neither  how  to  read  nor  write. 
See  pp.  221-2. 

17  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  190,  No.  19,  Premieres  Expl.,  etc., 
Jan.  29,^  1645. 

18  Regies  Communes,  ch.  ix.,  art.  11  and  16,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la 
Char.,  ii.,  559;  Ibid.,  569;  Ibid,,  574. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


143 


vour  own  satisfaction  and  individual  benefit,  but  to  render 
yourselves  capable  of  instructing  the  little  girls  in  the  places 
whither  you  will  be  sent.”19  He  is  more  detailed  in  a  later 
conference  when  he  expresses  his  desire  that  all  learn  to  read 
and  write,  “not  in  order  to  be  learned,  for  frequently  know¬ 
ledge  only  elates  the  heart  and  exalts  the  mind  unreasonably 
by  filling  it  with  pride,  but  in  order  to  facilitate  the  means 
of  observing  your  rules  more  exactly,  to  keep  your  accounts 
or  receipts  and  expenses  in  good  condition,  to  give  your  news 
of  the  distant  places  where  you  will  be,  to  assure  your 
superiors  of  your  respects  and  your  dependence,  especially 
to  teach  the  poor  little  girls  of  the  village;  in  a  word,  that 
you  may  be  better  fitted  to  serve  God.”20 

The  learning  of  the  catechism  comprised  a  further  part 
of  the  training  of  the  first  Daughters  of  Charity.  “How  I 
desire,”  he  writes  to  Mile,  le  Gras,  “that  your  girls  .  .  . 
know  well  the  catechism  that  you  teach!”21  The  rule  pre¬ 
scribes  that  the  Sisters  employ  part  of  their  time  on  Sundays 
and  feast  days  for  “the  practice  of  (teaching)  catechism 
among  themselves.”  The  superioress  or  one  of  the  older 
Sisters  presided  at  these  assemblies.  St  Vincent  considered 
this  instruction  of  such  importance  that  he  thought  fit  to 
have  it  given  also  on  other  days  at  specified  times,  during 
which  the  poor  were  not  permitted  to  call.  Its  purpose  was 
self-instruction  and,  as  the  rule  says,  “to  render  themselves 
capable  of  instructing  the  poor  and  the  children  in  the 
things  necessary  for  their  salvation.”22 

As  regards  the  special  training  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  in  their  duties  as  nurses,  no  details  have  come  down 
to  us.  Still  the  fact  that  the  Daughters  prepared  the  medi¬ 
cines,  compounded  remedies  “in  the  parishes  of  Paris  with¬ 
out  any  complaint  having  ever  been  made”  against  them, 
bled  the  patients,  dressed  wounds,  and  had  charge  of  the 
pharmacy  of  a  hospital,  goes  to  show  that  the  training  of 


19  Confer,  cinx  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  6,  No.  i,  Premieres  Expl.,  etc.,  July 
31,  1634;  cf.  also  Ibid.,  42,  No.  6,  Premieres  Expl.,  etc.,  Aug.  16,  1641. 

20  Confer,  anx  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  No.  19,  Premieres  Expl.,  etc.,  Jan.  29, 

1645- 

21  Lett.,  i.,  265,  No.  253  (1639). 

22  Regies  Communes,  ch.  ix.,  art.  16,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii., 
569,  sqq.  No.  99,  Premieres  Expl.,  etc.,  Dec.  8,  1658. 


144 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  first  Daughters  of  Charity  was  fully  sufficient  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  medical  science  of  that  period.23 

Besides  the  intellectual  and  medical  training,  St.  Vincent 
insisted  also  on  the  moral  training  of  his  recruits.  The 
purpose  of  this  training  was  self-sanctification  and,  at  the 
same  time,  character  formation.  It  was  to  teach  the  novices 
to  rise  superior  to  petty  differences  and  jealousies,  to  bear 
up  under  trials  and  disappointments,  and  to  render  them¬ 
selves  immune  to  the  moral  dangers  connected  with  their 
work. 

Hence  we  find  that  St.  Vincent  laid  great  emphasis  on 
mutual  charity  and  forbearance,  on  humility,  obedience  to 
the  rules  of  the  Company,  and  detachment  from  earthly 
goods  and  honors.  These  virtues  served  as  an  antidote  to 
jealousy  and  envy,  while  assuring  unity  among  the  members 
and  concerted  endeavor  in  their  social  activities.  Patience 
and  trust  in  God  upheld  their  courage  in  the  face  of  disap¬ 
pointments.  The  practice  of  strict  religious  decorum,  a 
modest  reserve  in  the  company  of  others,  and  the  avoidance 
of  unnecessary  conversations  and  visiting  combined  to  pro¬ 
tect  their  virtue  in  the  midst  of  moral  dangers.  In  all  these 
virtues  did  St.  Vincent  endeavor  to  ground  his  first  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity,  as  a  glance  at  his  conferences  to  them  amply 
shows. 

C.  Part-Time  and  Full-Time  Workers 

St.  Vincent  employed  both  part-time  and  full-time  work¬ 
ers  in  the  service  of  the  needy.  The  members,  both  men  and 
women,  of  the  confraternities  in  the  towns  and  villages  and 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  Paris  were  all  part-time  workers. 
They  went  about  their  wonted  avocations  and  devoted  only 
their  spare  moments  to  the  interests  of  the  poor,  or  the  time 
allotted  to  them  by  the  constitutions  of  their  respective  con¬ 
fraternities.  The  Daughters  of  Charity,  on  the  contrary, 
were  full-time  workers.  They  left  the  world  to  give  them- 


23  Lett.,  i.,  195,  No.  189,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Richelieu,  Feb.  20, 
1638;  Ibid.,  iii.,  239,  No.  1198,  To  M.  l’abbe  Malleray  at  Nantes,  Jan.,  1656; 
Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  119,  No.  12,  Jan.  1,  1644;  Ibid.,  ii.,  469,  No. 
89,  July  9,  1648;  Ibid.,  572,  No.  99,  Explication  des  Regies  Communes 
(suite),  Dec.  8,  1658;  Ibid.,  629,  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Parois- 
ses,  ch.  xviii.,  art.  16,  40. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


145 


selves  entirely  to  a  life  of  charity  under  the  immediate 
direction  of  St.  Vincent  and  Mile,  le  Gras. 

St.  Vincent  expresses  his  preference  for  workers  of  the 
latter  type  when  he  says,  apparently  in  confirmation  of  a 
similar  preference  on  the  part  of  Mile,  le  Gras :  “It  is  true, 
it  is  to  be  desired  that  persons  who  will  wish  to  devote  them¬ 
selves  to  so  noble  a  work,  have  no  other  view  nor  occupation 
but  that.”24  Practical  results,  too,  were  in  favor  of  the  full¬ 
time  worker.  They  were  more  settled  and  interested  in  the 
work  and  were  better  prepared  for  it.  Moreover,  St.  Vincent 
was  constantly  in  direct  touch  with  them,  to  encourage, 
admonish,  or  reprove  as  occasion  demanded.  He  could  suit 
the  individual  to  the  position  as  far  as  possible,  removing 
and  replacing  them  as  circumstances  changed  and  new  needs 
arose. 


D.  The  Volunteer 

All  the  organized  social  workers  of  St.  Vincent  were, 
with  one  known  exception,  volunteers.  Such  were  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  confraternities,  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  the 
Daughters  of  Charity.  It  seems  to  have  been  taken  ordi¬ 
narily  as  a  matter  of  course  that  both  the  members  and  the 
officers  were  to  offer  their  services  without  thought  of 
remuneration.  Only  once  do  we  find  express  mention  made 
of  it.  The  constitution  for  the  conference  of  men  and  women 
at  Courboing  states  that  the  treasurer  shall  perform  his 
duties  “without  being  able  to  ask  or  hope  for  any  salary 
for  it.”23 

The  single  known  exception  to  volunteer  service,  is  found 
in  this  same  constitution  of  Courboing.  It  commissions  the 
directors  to  appoint  one  of  the  members  “associate  servant 
of  the  said  confraternity.”  His  ordinary  duty  was  to 
assemble  the  directors  and  the  members  for  the  meetings. 
His  term  of  office  was  of  two  years’  duration.  The  constitu¬ 
tion  continues :  “And  in  the  event  that  it  be  necessary  to 
send  him  into  the  country  or  to  employ  more  than  two  hours 
of  time  in  behalf  of  the  said  confraternity,  the  said  directors 


24  Lett.,  i.,  49,  No.  36,  to  Mile,  le  Gras,  Oct.  17,  1631. 

25  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  420. 


146 


THE  CHARITIES 


shall  give  him  some  of  its  [the  confraternity’s]  deniers  if  he 
is  poor  and  wishes  it.”20 

But  there  are  a  number  of  instances  on  record  where  the 
members  of  various  associations  procured  the  assistance  of 
non-members  and  paid  them  for  their  services  in  behalf 
of  the  needy.  In  the  first  place  the  poor  women  whom  the 
confraternities  chose  to  remain  with  the  bedridden  sick  were 
to  be  paid  “an  honest  salary  according  to  their  labor”  “from 
the  common  funds  of  the  association.”27  Abelly  tells  us  that 
the  wet  nurses  who  cared  for  the  foundlings  were  “paid 
each  month  the  salary  which”  was  “agreed  upon  with 
them.”28  St.  Vincent  instructs  a  member  of  the  Congrega¬ 
tion  to  make  a  bargain  with  a  certain  surgeon  “to  visit  and 
attend  the  sick  who  have  need  of  it  every  two  days.”29  The 
wording  of  these  instructions  seems  to  imply  that  the 
surgeon  in  question  was  to  be  paid  for  his  services.  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  himself  was  assigned  an  annual  salary  of  600  livres  as 
royal  almoner  of  the  galleys  of  France  by  Louis  XIII 
(1619>.30  The  priests,  procured  for  the  spiritual  care  of 
the  poor  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  through  the  intervention  of  St. 
Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  received  a  definite  annual 
salary  for  their  services  from  the  Ladies.31  Again  through 
the  intervention  of  St.  Vincent  and  some  of  the  Ladies,  the 
ecclesiastics  of  Saint-Nicholas-du-Chardonnet  were  given 
“300  livres  of  rent”  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
sick  in  the  hospital  for  galley  slaves  which  was  situated 
within  the  limits  of  their  parish.32 

In  the  light  of  the  evidence  adduced,  it  is  indisputable 
that  St.  Vincent  preferred  volunteer  service  in  welfare  work 
and  made  use  of  it  whenever  possible.  Still  he  was  not 
opposed  on  principle  to  paid  service  and  employed  it  when 
necessity  demanded.  Persons  who  gave  all  or  a  considerable 


26  Ibid.,  There  is,  however,  no  mention  made  that  the  work  for  which  he 
received  pay  was  specifically  social  service. 

27  Ibid.,  389,  424. 

28  Abelly,  i.,  211. 

29  Lett.,  ii.,  498,  No.  920,  To  Frere  Sene,  Cleric  of  the  Mission  at  Lagny, 
Nov.  24,  1652. 

30  Abelly,  i.,  Pieces  Justificatives,  I.,  405. 

31  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  473;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la 
Congreg.,  74. 

32  Abelly,  i.,  190. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


147 


part  of  their  time  to  work  for  the  poor  were,  to  his  mind, 
entitled  to  a  reasonable  compensation  if  they  themselves 
were  poor  and  had  no  other  source  of  revenue.  Nor  does  he 
seem  to  have  thought  that  a  definite  salary  commercializes 
social  service,  if  accompanied  with  love  for  the  poor,  any 
more  than  it  commercializes  the  services  of  ecclesiastics  for 
the  relief  of  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  same  poor. 

2.  The  Nurse 

A.  The  Nurse  and  the  Patient 

The  rules  and  constitutions  of  St.  Vincent  say  nothing 
definite  regarding  the  number  of  patients  to  be  placed  under 
the  care  of  each  nurse.33  But  he  advised  the  two  Daughters 
of  Charity  who  were  sent  to  Arras  as  visiting  nurses  in  1656 
not  to  “take  charge  of  many  sick  at  a  time ;  only  eight  or  ten 
suffice.”34  Still  we  learn  from  another  conference  that  as 
many  as  thirty  were  cared  for  at  one  time.35 

St.  Vincent  instructs  his  nurses36  to  treat  their  patients 
“with  compassion,  kindness,  cordiality,  respect,  and  devo¬ 
tion,  even  the  most  troublesome  as  also  those  toward  whom 
they  will  feel  some  repugnance,  .  .  .  considering  that  it  is 
not  so  much  to  them  as  to  Jesus  Christ  that  they  render 
service.”  You  ought  to  listen  “to  their  little  complaints,” 
he  continues,  “as  a  good  mother  would  do,  for  they  look  upon 
you  as  their  foster  mothers,  as  persons  sent  to  assist  them.”37 


33  The  constitution  for  the  confraternity  of  the  parish  of  Saint-Sauveur 
is  the  only  one  that  makes  mention  of  the  point,  and  it  says  merely  in 
general  terms  that  “the  superioress  has  charge  of  all  the  sick  whom  she  can 
go  to  see  by  the  order  of  the  physician.”  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  453. 

34  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  189-90,  No.  68,  Aug.  30,  1656. 

35  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  315,  No.  79,  Nov.  11,  1657.  It  is  not 
stated  here,  however,  how  many  Daughters  of  Charity  were  in  attendance, 
but  apparently  there  was  only  one.  In  his  conference  of  Sept.  29,  1655,  he 
contrasts  the  relative  number  of  nurses  and  patients  in  certain  institutions 
with  the  large  number  of  patients  cared  for  by  the  comparatively  few 
Daughters  of  Charity,  and  says  that  a  single  parish  gives  them  “twenty, 
thirty,  and  forty,  and  sometimes  sixty”  patients  (Lett,  et  Confer.  [Sup pi.], 
242,  No.  13).  Here  again  the  number  of  Daughters  in  attendance  is  not 
stated,  but  we  know  that  two  was  the  ordinary  number  employed  in  each 
parish. 

30  These  instructions  were  given  primarily  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity, 
but  they  manifest  St.  Vincent’s  mind  on  the  subject  and  apply  with  equal 
force  to  all  who  were  engaged  in  nursing  under  his  direction. 

37  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  311-2,  Regies  Communes,  ch.  vii., 
art.  1. 


148 


THE  CHARITIES 


“Encourage  them  to  suffer  their  ills  patiently  for  the  love  of 
God/’  he  tells  them  again;  “bear  with  their  little  whims, 
never  become  vexed  with  them  nor  speak  rough  words  to 
them.  Ah,  they  have  enough  to  do  to  suffer  their  illness ! 
Think,  on  the  contrary,  that  you  are  their  visible  guardian 
angel,  their  father  and  their  mother ;  do  not  contradict  them 
except  in  what  is  harmful  to  them.  .  .  .  God  has  instituted 
you  to  be  their  consolation.”38 

The  following  words  of  St.  Vincent,  taken  from  one  of 
his  conferences,  are  also  well  worthy  of  note  as  expressive 
of  the  general  attitude  of  the  nurse  toward  her  patient: 
“Your  resolutions  ought  therefore  to  be :  I  shall  go  out  to 
serve  the  poor.  I  shall  try  to  go  with  a  mien  modestly  gay, 
I  shall  endeavor  to  console  them  and  edify  them,  I  shall 
speak  to  them  as  to  my  masters.  There  are  some  who  are 
accustomed  to  speak  roughly  to  me,  I  shall  bear  with 
it  ”39 

Among  the  rules  he  drew  up  for  those  whom  he  sent 
to  serve  the  sick  in  the  parishes,  we  find  the  following 
article :  “Although  they  ought  not  be  too  yielding  nor  too 
condescending  when  they  [the  sick]  refuse  to  take  the 
remedies,  still  they  shall  be  well  on  their  guard  not  to  ill- 
treat  or  slight  them ;  on  the  contrary,  they  shall  treat  them 
with  respect  and  humility,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  rude¬ 
ness  and  the  contempt  one  shows  them,  as  well  as  the  service 
and  the  honor  which  one  renders  them,  are  directed  to  our 
Lord  Himself.”40 

St.  Vincent  demanded  the  same  cordiality  and  conde¬ 
scension  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  on  their  visits  to  the  sick 
of  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  Paris.  They  were  instructed  “to  con¬ 
duct  themselves  with  great  humility,  meekness  and  affa¬ 
bility  toward  the  poor  sick,  speaking  to  them  in  a  familiar 
and  cordial  manner  in  order  to  gain  them  the  more  easily 
for  God.”  This  condescension  was  not  restricted  to  manner 
and  words.  He  gave  them  the  further  instructions  “to  dress 
as  simply  as  possible  on  the  days  on  which  they  went  to 


38  Ibid.,  i.,  5-6,  No.  i,  July  31,  1634. 

39  Ibid.,  30,  No.  4,  Aug.  12,  1640. 

40  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  ch.  xi.,  Confer,  aux 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  616,  No.  105,  Oct.  19,  1659. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


149 


the  Hotel-Dieu,  in  order  to  appear  poor  with  the  poor,  or  at 
least  far  removed  from  vanity  and  luxury  of  dress,  in  order 
not  to  cause  pain  to  these  poor  sick,  who,  seeing  the  excess 
and  the  superfluities  of  the  rich,  ordinarily  grieve  the  more 
on  that  account  that  they  have  for  themselves  not  even  the 
things  that  are  necessary  for  them.”41 

Affability  in  nursing  and  visiting  the  sick,  was,  how¬ 
ever,  to  be  accompanied  with  a  modest  reserve.  We  shall 
adduce  but  one  instance  in  proof.  St.  Vincent  was  asked 
how  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  who  were  to  be  sent  to  nurse 
the  wounded  soldiers,  should  behave  toward  the  convales¬ 
cent.  “0  my  Sisters,”  he  answered,  “it  is  necessary  that 
this  be  always  with  great  charity  and  modesty;  for,  since 
they  are  no  longer  sick,  it  is  necessary  to  be  on  one’s  guard 
as  one  must  do  with  all  other  men.  If  it  should  happen  that 
one  of  them  becomes  so  insolent,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
reprehend  him  in  a  severe  manner;  if  it  should  happen 
again,  you  must  threaten  to  register  a  complaint  against 
him,  and  also  never  to  hear  from  them  except  what  is  neces¬ 
sary  for  their  welfare,  performing  quickly  the  service  you 
must  render  them.”42 

The  nurses  were  also  instructed  to  be  very  attentive  in 
caring  for  the  wants  of  the  sick.  “Be  then  very  attentive,” 
he  tells  them,  “that  nothing  be  wanting  to  them  in  all  that 
you  can  [provide] ,  whether  it  be  for  the  health  of  the  body 
or  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul.”43  “They  shall  be  very 
conscientious,”  he  says  in  his  rules  for  them,  “not  to  let 
them  suffer  in  default  of  giving  them  precisely  at  the  proper 
time  and  in  the  proper  manner  the  assistance  of  which  they 
have  need,  be  it  through  negligence  or  culpable  forgetfulness, 
be  it  because  of  some  badly  regulated  attachment  to  their 
spiritual  exercises,  which  they  ought  to  postpone  in  favor 
of  the  necessary  assistance  of  the  poor  sick.”44 

St.  Vincent  did  not  allow  his  first  Daughters  of  Charity 
to  nurse  patients  indiscriminately.  “And  since  ill-regulated 
charity,”  he  says  further  in  their  rule,  “is  not  only  dis- 


41  Abelly,  i.,  201 ;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.) }  469. 

42  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char .,  ii.,  169-70,  No.  66,  July  29,  1656. 

43  Ibid.,  i.,  56,  No.  8,  July  14,  1642. 

44  Regies  Communes ,  ch.  vii.,  art  1. 


150 


THE  CHARITIES 


pleasing  to  God,  but  also  prejudicial  to  the  souls  of  those 
who  practice  it  thus,  they  shall  not  undertake  to  nurse  or  to 
physic  any  sick  person  against  the  will  of  those  on  whom 
they  depend,  nor  against  the  order  which  has  been  given 
them,  paying  no  attention  to  the  complaints  which  the  dis¬ 
contented  poor  are  accustomed  to  make.”  This  article,  as 
St.  Vincent  himself  explains  it,  contains  the  prohibition 
“to  receive  a  sick  person  against  the  order  of  the  Ladies 
of  Charity  or  of  the  physician.”45 

Furthermore,  St.  Vincent  discriminated  against  those 
who  were  afflicted  with  a  lingering  illness  and  against  the 
incurables.  “It  has  not  been  the  intention,”  he  tells  his 
Daughters  of  Charity,  “that  one  receive  .  .  .  those  affected 
with  dropsy,  the  consumptives,  the  epileptics;  for  what 
would  one  do  if  one  received  all  these  persons?  ...  In 
Paris  God  has  provided  them  with  a  hospital  for  the  incura¬ 
bles.”46  In  his  constitution  for  the  confraternity  of  the 
parish  of  Saint-Saveur  at  Paris  he  likewise  excludes  those 
suffering  from  a  lingering  illness  from  the  benefits  of  visit¬ 
ing  nursing.  To  care  for  them,”  he  says,  “would  cause  .  .  . 
that  one  could  not  bring  relief  to  many  others.”47 

We  find  another  restriction  among  the  rules  which  St. 
Vincent  gave  to  his  first  Daughters  of  Charity  whom  he  sent 
into  the  parishes.  We  read:  “In  order  to  avoid  serious  ob¬ 
jections  that  might  arise,  they  shall  not  undertake  to  sit  up 
with  the  sick,  nor  with  women  who  are  laboring  with  child, 
any  more  than  to  assist  women  of  a  bad  life  .  .  .  and, 
although  a  special  case  of  extraordinary  necessity  seems  to 
oblige  them  to  serve  someone  of  these  three  classes  of  per¬ 
sons,  still  they  shall  not  undertake  it  without  a  general  or 
special  permission  of  their  superiors  and  without  an  express 
order  of  the  superioress  of  the  confraternity;  with  all  this 
they  shall  not  render  them  service,  as  far  as  possible,  except 
through  the  mediation  of  some  other  person,  and  they  shall 
not  give  knowledge  of  it,  except  to  their  superiors.”48  There 

45  Ch.  vii.,  art.  3,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  318-9. 

46  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  319,  No.  79,  Nov.  11,  1657.  Cf.  also 
Lett.,  i.,  312,  No.  289,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1640). 

47  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  452. 

48  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  ch  xiii.,  Confer,  aux 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  619-20,  No.  105,  Oct.  19,  1659. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


151 


is  no  evidence  to  show  to  what  extent  St.  Vincent  adopted 
this  policy  toward  the  other  social  workers  who  labored 
under  his  direction. 

B.  The  Nurse  and  the  Physician 

The  relation  between  the  nurse  and  the  physician  was, 
according  to  St.  Vincent,  one  of  strict  obedience  on  the  part 
of  the  former.  He  expresses  this  attitude  very  clearly  in 
his  rules  for  the  Daughters  of  Charity  destined  for  service 
in  the  parishes.  Among  them  we  find  the  following :  “They 
shall  make  it  a  matter  of  conscience  not  to  fail  in  the  slight¬ 
est  service  which  they  ought  to  render  to  the  sick,  particu¬ 
larly  as  regards  the  remedies  which  they  ought  to  give  to 
them  in  the  manner  and  at  the  hour  prescribed  by  the  physi¬ 
cian,  unless  some  great  necessity  obliges  to  use  it  other¬ 
wise;  as,  for  example,  if  their  illness  should  become  too 
bad,  or  if  they  were  in  a  cold  fit  or  in  a  sweat  or  some  other 
like  plight.”  Vincent  himself  gives  us  the  import  of  this 
rule.  He  says :  “Thus,  my  Sisters,  you  ought  to  be  exact 
in  doing  all  that  the  physicians  prescribe,  because  if  any 
accident  happened  to  a  sick  person,  you  would  be  responsi¬ 
ble,  unless,  as  we  have  already  said,  some  very  remarkable 
change  comes  unexpectedly  and  such  as  those  of  which  this 
rule  speaks.  Since  I  come  to  mention  the  physicians,  I  shall 
add  that,  besides  the  obedience  you  owe  them,  you  must  also 
show  them  great  respect  .  .  . ;  for,  if  it  should  happen,  as  I 
have  been  told,  that  anyone  [of  you]  had  the  intention  of 
following  her  own  judgment,  or  of  doing  something  con¬ 
trary  to  their  intention,  or  of  exceeding  the  orders  she 
received,  I  should  say  to  this  Daughter  that  she  committed 
a  great  fault.  You  ought,  then,  to  obey  them  in  all  that 
concerns  the  service  of  the  sick  and  think  that  you  are  doing 
the  will  of  God  in  doing  theirs.”49 

That  St.  Vincent  here  gives  expression  to  a  settled  con¬ 
viction  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  already  many  years 
earlier  he  gave  similar  instructions  to  his  Daughters  of 
Charity.  In  a  conference  dated  June  14,  1642,  we  read: 


49  Regies  Particulieres  aux  Soeurs  de  Paroisses,  ch.  ix.,  Confer,  aux 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  614,  Aug.  24,  1659. 


152 


THE  CHARITIES 


“You  ought  to  act  in  a  similar  manner  [showing  honor,  re¬ 
spect,  and  obedience]  towards  the  physicians,  being  well  on 
your  guard  not  to  find  fault  with  their  orders,  which  you 
ought  to  carry  out  with  exactitude  and  without  ever  taking 
the  liberty  of  making  the  medicines  according  to  your  way 
of  seeing,  but  executing  exactly  what  they  have  prescribed 
as  regards  both  the  quantity  and  the  drugs,  for  sometimes 
there  is  nothing  less  than  the  lives  of  the  persons  at  stake.” 
“Respect,  then,  the  physicians,”  he  continues,  “not  only  be¬ 
cause  they  are  above  you  and  better  instructed  than  you, 
but  also  because  God  commands  you  to  do  so  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  where  one  reads  the  following  words :  ‘Honor 
the  physicians  for  the  need  thou  hast  of  them.  The  kings 
themselves,  as  well  as  all  the  great  ones  of  the  world,  honor 
them.’50  Why,  then,  my  Daughters,  under  the  pretext  that 
they  are  familiar  with  you,  that  they  speak  freely  with  you, 
should  you  refuse  to  show  them  the  honor  and  the  respect 
you  owe  them?  Ah!  be  on  your  guard  here,  I  pray  you; 
for,  although  it  seems  to  you  at  times  that  this  one  does 
not  do  as  well  as  the  other,  never  take  occasion  from  this 
to  undervalue  them.  It  is  but  ignorance  that  can  hinder 
you  from  knowing  why  they  follow  several  methods  in  the 
treatment  of  sicknesses  that  seem  to  be  the  same.”51 

In  view  of  the  great  respect  St.  Vincent  here  evinces  for 
the  medical  profession,  it  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  his 
deeds  and  words  which  are  to  some  extent  in  opposition. 
Two  years  before  his  death  he  suffered  severely  from  an 
affection  of  the  eyes.  After  trying  a  number  of  remedies 
without  relief,  the  physician  ordered  that  he  apply  the  blood 
of  a  newly  killed  pigeon.  Vincent  never  allowed  a  pigeon 
to  be  killed  for  this  purpose,  “saying  that  this  innocent 
animal  represented  to  him  his  Savior  and  that  God  well  knew 


50  Adaptation  of  Eccli.  38,  1-3. 

51  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  55,  No.  8,  June  14,  1642.  For  similar 
statements  on  the  same  point,  cf.,  v.g.,  Ibid.,  193,  No.  19,  Jan.  29,  1645; 
Regies  Communes,  ch.  iv.,  art  4,  Ibid.,  ii.,  346,  No.  81,  Dec.  2,  1657;  Ibid., 
351,  No.  81,  Dec.  2,  1657.  St.  Vincent  endeavored  to  inculcate  in  the  Priests 
of  the  Mission  and  the  Daughters  of  Charity  the  same  respect  and  obedi¬ 
ence  towards  the  physicians  in  the  care  of  their  own  health.  Cf.  v.g.,  Lett., 
ii.,  85,  No.  593,  To  M.  Martin,  Confrere  at  Genoa,  May  15,  1648;  Regies 
Communes,  ch.  iv.,  art.  4,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  346,  No.  81,  Dec. 

2,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


153 


how  to  cure  him  in  another  way.”52  In  his  last  weakness  he 
was  ordered  by  the  physician  to  take  some  broth  and  some 
chicken.  He  did  so  once  or  twice  and  discontinued,  saying 
it  was  hard  on  his  heart.  He  writes  thus  to  one  of  the 
brethren :  “One  must  not  pay  so  much  attention  to  the 
advice  of  the  physicians  who  are  only  too  obliging  and  who 
do  not  regard  any  other  good  but  the  health  of  the  body.”53 


52  Abelly,  i.,  353. 

53  Lett.,  iii.,  677,  No  i5-(9,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  Nov.  23,  1657. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Relief 

1.  The  General  Nature  of  Relief 


Only  the  helpless  poor  could  receive  charitable  support 
according  to  the  relief  programme  of  St.  Vincent.  The 
totally  dependent — little  children,  the  sick,  the  crippled,  and 
the  decrepit — were  to  be  supported  entirely  from  charity; 
the  partially  disabled,  in  proportion  to  their  inability.  “And 
as  regards  those  who  can  earn  but  a  portion  of  what  is  neces¬ 
sary  for  them,  the  association  shall  supply  the  rest.”  These 
are  the  instructions  we  find  in  the  constitutions  of  several 
of  the  conferences.1 

St.  Vincent  personally  or  through  his  workers  gave 
relief  of  every  kind :  personal  service,  medicines,  eatables, 
clothes,  tools  and  implements,  seeds,  and  money.  In  fact, 
he  suited  the  relief  to  the  nature  of  the  individual  needs. 

He  frequently  gave  alms  in  money.  But  we  cannot  de¬ 
tect  by  what  principle,  if  any,  he  was  guided  in  determining 
when  relief  should  be  given  in  money  and  when  in  kind.  We 
have  evidence  of  any  one  instance  where  the  distinction  was 
sharply  made.  The  missionaries  who  were  relieving  dis¬ 
tress  at  Nancy  gave  the  poor  of  the  middle  class  “a  certain 
amount  of  bread  per  week,”  while  the  poor  “persons  of  rank, 
both  ecclesiastical  and  lay,”  were  given  “a  sum  of  money 
per  month  according  to  the  condition  and  the  needs  of  each.”2 

St.  Vincent  had  no  technical  standard  of  living  as  a 
norm  in  giving  relief.  Necessity  was  his  sole  guide.3  The 

x'Lett.  et  Confer.  (SuppL),  412-3,  418,  430. 

2  Abelly,  ii.,  490-1. 

3  Ce  qui  leur  sera  necessaire  pour  vivre  (Lett,  et  Confer.  [SuppL],  412, 
418),  and  ce  qu’il  leur  faudra  pour  vivre  {Ibid.,  430),  are  the  norms  he  gives 
in  his  constitutions.  He  sometimes  specifies  the  amount  to  be  given ;  v.g., 
“to  each  poor  person  who  cannot  work,  one  livre  and  a  half  of  bread  per 
day  and  a  piece  of  cheese  or  butter;  and  to  those  who  earn  a  part  of  their 
living,  .  .  .  six  or  eight  livres  of  bread  per  week”  {Ibid.,  419).  He  writes 
thus  to  one  of  the  brethren  :  “If  you  judge  that  it  is  not  enough  to  give  five 
sous  per  week  to  the  poor,  you  can  give  them  as  high  as  two  sous  per  day 
{Lett.,  i.,  532,  50,  Xo.  461,  To  M.  Dufour,  Confrere  at  Saintes,  July  4,  1646). 

155 


156 


THE  CHARITIES 


question  of  comforts  and  luxuries  did  not  enter  into  his  cal¬ 
culations.  Only  individuals  and  families  in  actual  need  were 
the  objects  of  his  care.  As  soon  as  they  rose  above  this 
condition  in  virtue  of  assistance  rendered  or  by  dint  of 
personal  effort,  they  passed  out  of  the  sphere  of  his  activity. 

He  gives  us  a  clear  manifestation  of  his  mind  on  this 
point  in  his  conduct  towards  his  parents  and  other  rela¬ 
tives.  They  were  poor  peasants  living  from  hand  to  mouth, 
but  ordinarily  able  to  avoid  actual  need.  St.  Vincent  stead¬ 
fastly  refused  to  afford  them  the  means  of  enjoying  com¬ 
forts  and  of  rising  to  a  higher  standard  of  life  while  so  many 
others  throughout  France  were  suffering  need.  “I  went  so 
far  as  to  tell  them,”  he  once  said,  “that  they  need  expect 
nothing  from  me,  and  that  if  I  had  chests  of  gold  and  silver 
I  should  give  them  none  of  it,  because  an  ecclesiastic  who 
possesses  anything  owes  it  to  God  and  to  the  poor.”4  Some 
persons  of  prominence,  out  of  consideration  for  St.  Vincent, 
proposed  to  offer  some  of  his  nephews  means  and  opportunity 
of  studying  and  of  rising  to  a  higher  station  in  life.  St. 
Vincent  objected,  saying  that  one  must  be  cautious  not  to 
frustrate  the  designs  of  God  in  their  regard,  and  that  he 
preferred  to  have  them  “retain  the  social  status  of  their 
father,  since  the  life  of  a  laborer  is  one  of  the  most  innocent 
and  one  in  which  it  is  easiest  to  work  out  one’s  salvation.”5 
He  told  his  parents  to  pray  to  God  for  contentment  in  their 
lowly  state  and  for  the  grace  to  transmit  their  poverty  to 
their  children  as  a  heritage. 

One  of  his  nephews  traveled  to  Paris  with  the  express 
purpose  of  obtaining  assistance  from  Vincent  which  would 
enable  him  to  enjoy  the  comforts  of  life.  St.  Vincent  re¬ 
ceived  him  kindly  but  sent  him  back  on  foot,  as  he  had  come, 
giving  him  only  ten  crowns  for  the  journey  of  about  180 
leagues.  And  this  money  was  not  taken  from  the  charity 
fund  but  requested  for  the  purpose  from  a  noble  lady. 

An  intimate  friend  once  offered  him  a  thousand  francs 


4  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  433,  No.  104,  May  2,  1659. 
This  statement  is  especially  significant  when  we  recall  to  mind  that  Jean 
de  Paul,  in  allowing  the  young  Vincent  to  study  for  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
entertained  the  hope  of  future  compensation. 

5  Abelly,  iii.,  401-2. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


157 


for  his  parents.  Vincent  accepted  it,  but  obtained  the  bene¬ 
factor’s  permission  to  use  it,  not  for  their  temporal  welfare, 
but  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  mission  in  their  district. 
While  awaiting  an  occasion  to  send  missionaries  thither, 
however,  his  relatives  were  deprived  of  the  little  they  had 
by  the  raiding  soldiers.  St.  Vincent  consulted  some  of  his 
confreres  and,  with  their  advice,  forwarded  the  money  to 
the  Canon  of  Dax,  leaving  its  distribution  entirely  to  his 
judgment,  asking  only  that  the  effort  be  made  to  place  his 
relatives  again  in  a  position  to  earn  their  own  livelihood. 

The  absence  of  family  standards  and  family  budgets  in 
St.  Vincent’s  programme  of  relief  causes  us  little  wonder¬ 
ment  when  we  consider  the  time  and  circumstances  of  his 
labors.  In  the  first  place,  the  general  standard  of  living 
was  lower  than  at  present,  especially  among  the  poorer 
classes.  Moreover,  in  'the  midst  of  the  turmoils,  general 
poverty,  and  distress  of  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  lower  classes  had  neither  hope  nor  desire  of 
improving  their  standards.  They  were  happy  to  be  assured 
of  the  bare  necessaries  of  life.  Finally,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  that  St.  Vincent  was  not  a  man  of  theory.  The  purpose 
of  his  social  activities  was  not  to  raise  the  standard  of  living 
among  any  particular  social  class,  but  only  to  relieve  and 
prevent  actual  distress. 

2.  The  Obligation  of  Earning  One’s  Livelihood 

St.  Vincent’s  untiring  and  habitual  diligence  did  not 
spring  from  his  assiduous  nature.  It  was  deeply  rooted  in 
the  conscious  obligation  of  earning  his  livelihood.  We  have 
his  own  testimony.  He  said  one  day  to  his  brethren :  “We 
ought  always  to  think  when  we  go  to  the  refectory :  Have  I 
earned  the  food  I  am  about  to  take  ?  I  often  have  this  thought 
which  throws  me  into  confusion:  Wretch,  have  you  earned 
the  bread  which  you  go  to  eat,  this  bread  which  comes  from 
the  work  of  the  poor?”6 

He  repeatedly  adverts  to  this  obligation  in  his  confer¬ 
ences  to  his  Daughters  of  Charity.  We  read  in  one  of  them : 
“God  had  given  an  express  command  to  man  to  earn  his 


6  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  gg,  No.  42,  July  2,  1655. 


158 


THE  CHARITIES 


bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  ‘In  sudore  vultus  tui  ves- 
ceris  pane.’7  .  .  .  This  obligation  is  general,  and  there  is 
no  one  who  can  claim  exemption.  .  .  .  We  read  in  Holy 
Scripture  that  the  just  shall  live  from  the  work  of  his  hands, 
the  Holy  Ghost  giving  us  to  understand  thereby  that  the 
greatest  obligation  of  man,  after  that  which  he  owes  to  God, 
is  to  work  to  earn  his  living.”8  In  the  course  of  the  same 
conference  he  said  further:  “Oh,  how  I  should  desire  that 
one  day  you  would  be  in  a  position  to  serve  at  your  own 
expense  the  villages  which  have  not  the  means  of  engaging 
you !  I  see  nothing  more  beautiful,”  he  continues,  “than  to 
behold  the  Daughters  in  a  district  serving  the  poor  and 
instructing  the  sick  without  anyone  contributing  to  it,  and 
this  through  the  work  of  the  Sisters  who  would  be  in  other 
districts,  as  well  as  through  their  own  work,  according  as 
the  time  would  permit  after  having  acquitted  themselves  of 
their  usual  occupations.” 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising,  therefore,  that  this  sense  of 
the  obligation  of  work  had  its  influence  also  on  St.  Vincent’s 
social  activities.  The  whole  purpose  of  the  discrimination 
he  insisted  on  in  his  relief  work,  was  to  force  the  able-bodied 
poor  to  earn  their  living  by  honest  labor  wherever  possible. 
The  men  were  instructed  as  part  of  their  relief  work  to 
place  boys  as  apprentices  in  trades  “as  soon  as  they  were 
of  competent  age.”  He  drafted  a  special  constitution  for  a 
conference  whose  partial  purpose  was  to  provide  industrial 
training  for  poor  boys  in  a  factory  set  aside  for  that  work.9 
Thus  were  the  young  to  learn  at  an  early  age  the  duty  of  self- 
support.  The  programme  of  Macon  prohibited  public  beg¬ 
ging  under  the  penalty  of  punishment  of  being  forbidden 
all  further  aid.  The  necessaries  of  life  were  given  in  the 
provinces  only  to  the  disabled. 

7  “In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thon  eat  bread.”  Gen.  3.19. 

8  The  words,  which  have  a  general  application,  are  but  a  quotation  from 
an  entire  conference  which  Vincent  gave  his  Daughters  on  “the  importance 
of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  occupying  themselves  with  some  work  during 
their  hours  of  relaxation,  after  having  fulfilled  their  obligations  both  in  the 
service  of  the  sick  and  in  their  schools,  and  this  in  order  to  gain  a  part  of 
their  livelihood”  ( Confer .  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  419  sqq.,  No.  37,  Nov. 
28,  1649).  The  work  with  which  St.  Vincent  wished  them  to  occupy  them¬ 
selves  during  these  hours  was,  as  we  learn  elsewhere,  sewing  or  spinning 
(Ibid.,  54,  No.  8,  June  14,  1642). 

9  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  412,  418,  427-33. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


159 


St.  Vincent’s  entire  attitude  towards  work  is  an  implicit 
condemnation  of  professional  begging.  In  fact,  the  whole 
complex  of  his  social  activities  tended  towards  its  elimina¬ 
tion.  It  is  true,  he  himself  fed  beggars  at  the  door  of  Saint- 
Lazare,  but  as  soon  as  the  state  had  provided  for  them 
through  the  General  Poor  House,  he  discontinued,  with  the 
exception  of  a  severe  winter  which  reduced  many  to  extreme 
misery. 

3.  Rehabilitation 

That  the  able-bodied  poor,  on  the  one  hand,  might  not 
be  forced  into  the  ranks  of  the  professional  beggars,  and 
the  community,  on  the  other,  might  be  spared  the  burden 
of  supporting  them  in  charity,  St.  Vincent  believed  in  fur¬ 
nishing  them  with  the  means  of  earning  their  own  living. 

He  followed  this  policy  in  the  first  place  towards  his 
relatives,  who  had  been  reduced  to  begging  by  the  soldiery. 
He  sent  1000  livres  to  the  canon  of  his  native  town,  leaving 
the  distribution  entirely  to  him,  recommending  only  that  he 
try  to  put  Vincent’s  relatives  in  a  position  to  earn  their  liv¬ 
ing.  This  the  canon  did,  “buying  for  the  one  a  yoke  of 
oxen  .  .  . ;  having  the  little  dwelling  of  another  restored ; 
redeeming  for  another  a  little  plot  of  land ;  and  giving 
implements  and  clothes  to  the  others,  that  they  might 
work.”10 

But  it  is  especially  in  the  relief  of  the  provinces  that  we 
see  Vincent  de  Paul  employing  this  method.  One  of  the 
missionaries  had  written  to  St.  Vincent  asking  whether  he 
should  distribute  alms  also  to  the  poor  who  were  able  to 
work.  Without  waiting  to  consult  the  Ladies  how  they 
wished  to  have  their  alms  employed,  Vincent  answered  as 
a  general  principle  that  “when  anyone  has  sufficient  strength 
to  work,  one  buys  him  some  tools  conformable  to  his  pro¬ 
fession  and  gives  him  nothing  more.  According  to  this,” 
he  continues,  “the  alms  are  not  for  those  who  are  capable 
of  working  on  the  fortifications  or  of  doing  anything  else.”* 11 
In  another  letter  he  instructs  a  member  of  the  Company  to 
apply  an  alms  as  he  considers  best,  “whether  it  be  for  the 


10  Abelly,  iii.,  400-1. 

11  Lett. }  ii.,  330,  No.  789,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  April  26,  1651. 


160 


THE  CHARITIES 


assistance  of  the  parish  priests  or  for  the  purchase  of  wheat 
.  .  .  to  sow,  in  order  that  the  poor  laborers  may  be  able  to 
maintain  themselves  during  the  winter.”12  He  writes  again 
to  the  same  brother :  “You  are  requested  also  to  aid  the  poor 
people  to  earn  their  living  at  this  time  by  giving  them  some 
implements  that  they  may  work  in  the  harvest.”13  Finally, 
he  writes :  “I  have  nothing  to  say  [regarding  your  work] 

.  .  .  except  that  you  can  continue  to  provide  .  .  .  that  a 
portion  [of  the  alms]  be  destined  to  aid  the  poor  people  to 
sow  a  little  plot  of  ground.  ...  It  is  also  desirable  to  see 
to  it  that  all  the  other  poor  people  who  possess  no  land,  earn 
their  living  (both  men  and  women),  by  giving  to  the  men 
some  implements  to  work  and  the  girls  and  women  spinning 
wheels  and  tow  or  wool  to  spin,  and  that  to  the  most  desti¬ 
tute  only.”14 

The  reports  emanating  from  the  provinces  in  the  form 
of  letters  to  St.  Vincent  give  evidence  that  the  above  instruc¬ 
tions  of  the  Saint  were  carried  out.  One  of  these  letters 
says  in  part :  “We  have  considered  ourselves  obliged  to  give 
them  [the  able-bodied  poor]  the  means  [of  gaining  their 
living]  by  distributing  among  them  axes,  bills,  and  spinning 
wheels,  in  order  to  have  the  men  and  women  work  who  will 
no  longer  be  a  burden  to  anyone,  unless  something  else 
happens  to  reduce  them  to  the  same  misery.  .  .  .  We  have 
also  distributed  the  grain  which  has  been  sent  from  Paris 
to  these  regions.  It  has  been  sown  and  God  gives  it  His 
blessing.”  Another  one  says:  “We  have  purchased  with 
your  alms  700  livres  worth  of  sickles,  flails,  fans,  and  other 
implements  in  order  to  aid  the  poor  in  earning  their  living 
by  working  in  the  harvest.”  And  again :  “We  have  dis¬ 
tributed  to  the  women  spinning  wheels  and  some  hemp  to 
keep  them  busy.”15 

These  general  statements  constitute  all  the  evidence 
that  has  come  down  to  us  concerning  this  phase  of  St.  Vin¬ 
cent’s  work.  But  they  suffice  to  give  us  a  clear  insight  into 
Vincent’s  mind.  The  able-bodied  poor  are  not  to  be  charges 


12  Lett.,  iii.,  532,  No.  1445,  To  Jean  Parre  at  Saint-Quentin,  Aug.  18,  1657. 

13  Lett.,  iv.,  402,  No.  1886,  July  12,  1659. 

14  Ibid.,  4 36,  No.  1913,  Aug.  9,  1659. 

15  Cited  in  Abelly,  ii.,  519,  521. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


161 


of  charity.  They  must  be  put  in  a  condition  to  earn  their 
own  living.  If  they  are  landholders  they  must  be  given 
seeds  and  implements  with  which  to  till  their  land.  If  they 
possess  no  land,  they  must  be  given  tools  with  which  to  earn 
their  living  by  hiring  themselves  to  others.  The  women 
are  to  be  furnished  with  the  means  of  occupying  themselves 
with  work  suitable  to  them. 

4.  Institutional  vs.  Honie  Care 

St.  Vincent's  preferences  were  decidedly  in  favor  of 
rendering  assistance  to  the  poor  and  sick  in  their  homes. 
His  confraternities  of  charity  were  the  first  of  his  aid-giving 
agencies  in  the  order  of  the  time  and  the  most  widespread. 
But  to  visit  the  needy  poor  in  their  homes,  to  provide  nurs¬ 
ing  and  the  necessaries  of  life  for  them  there,  was  the  prime 
purpose  of  these  associations. 

This  method  was  not  merely  a  matter  of  expediency  with 
St.  Vincent.  He  was  convinced  of  its  advantages  over  insti¬ 
tutional  care.  In  one  of  his  conferences  to  his  Daughters 
of  Charity,  we  read:  “Certainly  a  Company  such  as  yours 
which  is  destined  for  works  so  excellent,  so  agreeable  to  our 
Lord  and  so  useful  to  fellow  man,  can  have  no  other  author 
but  God  Himself;  for  until  then  [the  foundation  of  the 
Daughters  of  Charity]  did  one  hear  of  such  a  work?  One 
saw,  indeed,  religious  men  and  hospitals  for  the  assistance 
of  the  sick,  there  were  also  religious  women  who  were  con¬ 
secrated  to  God  to  serve  them  in  the  hospitals ;  but  until  you 
came,  there  was  not  found  a  community  which  dedicated 
itself  to  the  service  of  the  sick  in  their  homes;  and  if  in  a 
poor  family  anyone  fell  sick,  he  was  sent  to  the  hospital,  and 
thus  were  separated  the  husband  from  his  wife  and  the 
children  from  their  father  and  mother.  Until  then,  0  my 
God,  Thou  didst  not  furnish  means  of  going  to  assist  them 
in  their  homes,  and  it  seemed  in  some  manner  that  Thy  ador¬ 
able  providence,  which  fails  no  one,  did  not  extend  its  care 
to  them.”16 

16  Confer,  anx  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  211,  No.  21,  Feb.  13,  1646.  Before 
St.  Vincent’s  time  some  provisions  were  made  for  the  care  of  the  sick  in 
their  homes.  Many  of  the  hospitals  distributed  medicines  to  the  poor  sick 
and  visited  them  in  their  homes.  In  other  places,  charitable  lay  organiza¬ 
tions  performed  this  labor  of  love.  Cf.,  v.g.,  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char., 
iv.,  part  ii.,  pp.  299  sqq. 


162 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  Duchess  of  Liancourt,  one  of  St.  Vincent’s  zealous 
cooperators,  planned  the  erection  of  a  hospital  for  the  poor 
at  Liancourt.  Vincent  opposed  the  plan,  saying  it  were  bet¬ 
ter  to  provide  means  of  having  the  Ladies  and  Daughters 
of  Charity  attend  them  in  their  homes.17 

Such  care,  we  are  assured  by  Abelly,  was  also  the  pref¬ 
erence  of  the  people  at  that  time.  He  says :  “If  one  were 
to  ask,  for  example,  fifty  or  sixty  poor  sick,  who  are  being 
assisted  in  a  parish  of  Paris  through  the  care  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  conference  that  is  established  there,  if  they 
preferred  to  be  taken  to  the  Hotel-Dieu,  they  undoubtedly 
would  answer  unanimously  that  one  would  do  them  better 
service  by  leaving  them  in  their  poor  lodgings  and  con¬ 
tinuing  towards  them  this  charitable  assistance  which  one 
has  commenced  to  give  them.”18 

Institutional  care,  however,  was  not  excluded  from  the 
relief  programme  of  St.  Vincent.  Some  classes  of  the  needy 
could  best  be  cared  for  in  institutions,  and  St.  Vincent  had 
them  cared  for  there.  The  establishment  of  the  Old  Folks’ 
Home  ( I’Hopital  du  Nom-du-Jesus) ,  for  example,  was  en¬ 
tirely  his  own  choice.  This  in  turn  gave  occasion  for  the 
erection  of  the  Hopital-General,  which  St.  Vincent  also 
heartily  approved  in  principle  though  not  in  method.  More¬ 
over,  his  constitution  for  industrial  training  presupposes 
that  the  boys  live  in  the  institution.  His  care  for  the 
foundlings  was  also  partly  institutional. 


17  Goyau,  70, 

18  Abelly,  ii.,  436. 


SECTION  III 

The  Methods  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  in  Social  Service 

The  following  pages  are  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  the 
various  phases  of  St.  Vincent’s  social  relief  work.1  I  shall 
endeavor  to  present  them  more  from  the  methodical  than 
the  historical  point  of  view.  And  since  they  are  but  the 
materialization  of  his  ideas  and  principles  which  we  have 
considered  in  the  first  two  sections,  a  certain  amount  of 
repetition  and  cross  references  is  inevitable. 


1  His  work  among  the  Christian  slaves  of  northern  Africa  as  well  as  his 
home  and  foreign  mission  activities  are  here  omitted,  the  former  as  having 
«  no  practical  bearing  on  modern  social  problems,  the  latter  as  being  outside 
the  scope  of  the  present  work. 


163 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Care  of  the  Sick  and  the  Insane 

1.  Visiting  Nursing 

The  social  workers  whom  St.  Vincent  organized  and 
directed  in  the  field  of  visiting  nursing  were  of  two  classes : 
those  who  volunteered  only  their  leisure  time,  retaining  their 
social  status  and  fulfilling  their  wonted  domestic  obligations, 
and  those  who  devoted  their  full  time  to  the  service  of  the 
poor  sick,  adopting  it  as  their  life’s  work. 

A.  The  Confraternities  of  the  Toivns  and  Villages . 

St.  Vincent’s  initial  step  in  organized  charity  is  marked 
by  the  establishment  of  an  association  of  visiting  nurses 
whose  members  were  of  the  former  type.  (See  p.  103.) 
It  became  one  of  Vincent’s  most  successful  and  widespread 
works.  With  slight  modifications  to  meet  local  conditions, 
it  wras  soon  spread  throughout  France  and  to  other  coun¬ 
tries,  as  Poland  and  Italy.  It  usually  formed  a  complement 
to  the  missions  conducted  by  the  Priests  of  the  Mission  in 
the  country  parishes.2 

Each  member  of  the  confraternity  had  her  day  on  duty.3 
The  president  began  and  the  rest  followed  in  the  order  of 
their  reception.  In  case  of  sickness  the  respective  member 
was  dispensed  from  duty  upon  informing  the  president,  and 


2  What  has  been  said  in  the  foregoing  section  under  the  headings  of 
Organization,  Meetings,  and  Funds,  concerning  the  officers,  their  election, 
term  of  office  and  duties;  concerning  the  admission  of  the  sick  to  the  care 
of  the  confraternity  and  their  dismissal;  and  concerning  the  meetings,  the 
discussion  of  current  difficulties,  and  the  sources  of  revenue,  applies  pre¬ 
eminently  f;o  the  association  at  present  under  consideration. 

3  The  details  for  this  paragraph  are  taken  from  the  following  constitu¬ 
tions  :  Reglement  de  la  Confrerie  de  la  Charite  de  Chatillon-les-Dombes, 
Nov.  24,  1617,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  pp.  387-402;  Reglement  des  Divers 
Offices  de  la  Confrerie  de  la  Charite,  Ibid.,  402-8;  Reglement  de  la  Con¬ 
frerie  de  la  Charite  d’Hommes  et  de  Femmes,  Courboing,  June  19,  1622, 
Ibid.,  417-27;  Constitution  for  the  Union  of  a  Conference  of  Charity  and  a 
Society  of  the  Holy  Name,  Lett.,  i.,  19  sqq. 

165 


166 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  next  in  order  continued.  If,  however,  she  was  prevented 
from  serving  on  her  regular  day  for  some  other  reason,  she 
had  to  find  a  substitute  obliging  herself  to  this  substitute 
to  return  the  favor  under  similar  circumstances. 

She  who  had  been  on  duty  for  the  day  notified  the  next 
in  order  in  the  evening,  “telling  her  the  name,  the  place,  the 
number,  and  the  condition  of  the  sick”  and  bringing  her 
“the  slices  of  bread,  the  wine  and  the  meat,”  or  allowing 
her  to  procure  the  necessary  food  directly  from  the  treasurer  . 
or  custodian  of  the  wardrobe. 

The  quantity  and  the  quality  of  the  food  to  be  furnished 
to  the  sick  poor  by  the  confraternity  were  very  minutely 
determined  by  the  regulations.  Each  invalid  was  to  be 
given  as  much  bread  as  he  was  able  to  eat,  a  small  measure 
of  wine  for  each  meal  if  he  had  no  fever,  a  bowl  of  soup  or 
porridge,  four  or  five  ounces  of  veal  or  boiled  mutton  for 
dinner  and  the  same  for  supper  except,  as  one  constitution 
says,  that  the  meat  be  roasted  or  minced,  or  as  another  pre¬ 
scribes,  that  it  be  minced  for  supper  twice  or  three  times 
a  week.  This  latter  constitution  also  permits  that  boiled 
chicken  be  given  the  sick  on  Sundays  and  feast  days. 

On  days  of  abstinence,  the  sick  were  to  receive  two  eggs 
and  a  little  butter  in  the  morning  with  a  bowl  of  porridge 
or  soup  or  fresh  fish.  The  same  amount  was  served  in  the 
evening.  The  constitution  of  Chatillon-les-Dombes,  how¬ 
ever,  allows  for  supper  as  many  eggs  as  the  sick  desire,  and 
limits  the  serving  of  fish  to  the  evening  meal  when  they  “can 
be  had  at  a  reasonable  price.” 

Special  provision  was  made  for  those  who  were  too  weak 
and  feeble  to  eat  solid  food.  They  were  to  be  given  broths 
and  fresh  eggs  or  bread  soup  and  hulled  barley  three  or  four 
times  a  day  according  to  the  orders  of  the  physician  to  the 
president.  One  constitution  also  urges  that  permission  be 
obtained  to  allow  those  who  are  very  sick  to  eat  meat  “during 
Lent  and  on  other  forbidden  days.” 

No  one  could  be  admitted  to  the  care  of  the  confraternity 
except  with  the  consent  of  the  rector  or  president  and  at 
least  one  of  the  other  officers.  If  a  sick  person  had  been 
thus  favorably  voted  upon,  the  president  informed  her  who 
was  on  duty  for  the  day.  The  latter  took  charge  of  the  case 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


167 


at  once  and  went  to  see  her  patient.  Her  first  duty  was  to 
supply  clean  clothes,  if  necessary,  from  the  chest  of  the 
confraternity.  “This  done,”  continues  the  constitution  of 
Chatillon-les-Dombes,  “she  shall  have  him  go  to  Confession 
in  preparation  for  Communion  on  the  morrow,”  and  shall 
place  a  crucifix  in  position  where  he  can  see  it.  She  shall 
then  bring  “the  utensils  that  will  be  necessary  for  him, 
such  as  a  small  table,  a  napkin,  a  gondola,  a  porringer,  a 
plate,  a  spoon.”  These  she  evidently  gets  from  the  cus¬ 
todian  of  the  wardrobe.  Thereupon  she  shall  notify  her  who 
will  be  on  duty  the  following  day  that  she  may  “clean  and 
prepare  the  house  of  the  sick  person,”  putting  it  in  readi¬ 
ness  for  the  Blessed  Sacrament  which  is  to  be  brought  in 
the  morning. 

The  constitutions  give  no  further  instructions  of  “first 
aid,”  but  proceed  to  trace  out  the  daily  routine  of  the  visiting 
nurse.  She  was  to  prepare  the  food  at  home  and  bring  it 
to  the  sick  at  about  nine  or  ten  o’clock  in  the  morning,  “the 
soup  and  the  meat  in  a  kettle,  the  bread  in  a  white  napkin, 
and  the  wine  in  a  bottle,  doing  the  same  for  supper  about 
four  o’clock  in  the  evening.” 

Entering  the  room  of  the  invalid,  so  continue  the  consti¬ 
tution  of  Chatillon  and  the  instructions  for  the  different 
offices,  “she  shall  greet  him  gayly  and  kindly,”  then  “ap¬ 
proaching  his  bed  with  a  mien  modestly  cheerful,”  she  “shall 
raise  the  pillow  for  him,  arrange  the  covers,  place  the  small 
table  near  the  bed,  and  on  it  arrange  the  napkin,  the  plate 
[and]  the  spoon,  [and]  rinse  the  gondola.”  “She  shall  wash 
the  hands  of  the  sick,  say  the  Benedicite ,  pour  out  the  por¬ 
ridge  in  a  porringer  and  put  the  meat  in  a  plate,  arranging 
all  on  the  said  small  table;  then  she  shall  kindly  invite  the 
sick  person  to  eat  for  the  love  of  Jesus  and  of  His  holy 
Mother :  all  with  love  as  though  she  were  treating  her  child, 
or  rather  God,  Who  considers  done  to  Himself  the  good  she 
does  to  this  poor  person,  and  she  shall  say  to  him  some  little 
word”  of  “holy  joy  and  consolation  for  the  purpose  of 
cheering  him.”  She  “shall  cut  the  meat  into  morsels  .  .  ., 
pour  out  the  drink,  [and]  invite  him  anew  to  eat.”  “Having 
thus  set  things  going,  if  there  is  someone  at  hand  [to  con¬ 
tinue],  she  shall  leave  him  and  go  to  find  another  whom  she 


168 


THE  CHARITIES 


shall  treat  in  like  manner.”  If,  however,  there  is  no  one  to 
continue  the  work,  she  remains  and  “when  he  [the  patient] 
has  finished  eating,  having  washed  the  dishes,  folded  the 
napkin  and  removed  the  table,”  she  “shall  say  grace  for  the 
sick  and  take  leave  of  him  immediately  in  order  to  go  and 
serve  another.” 

The  same  order  was  to  be  observed  in  making  the  rounds 
in  the  afternoon.  The  visiting  lady  is  very  considerately 
admonished  in  the  constitution  of  Chatillon  “always  to  begin 
with  him  who  has  someone  with  him  and  finish  with  those 
who  are  alone,  in  order  to  be  able  to  remain  longer  with  the 
latter.” 

Moreover,  the  confraternity  had  its  two  “guards  of  the 
poor  sick,”  non-members  chosen  by  the  ladies  of  the  con¬ 
fraternity  to  remain  with  those  who  stood  in  need  of  con¬ 
stant  attention  and  who  had  no  one  else  to  assist  them.  They 
acted  under  the  orders  of  the  president  and  were  paid  for 
their  services. 

A  further  duty  of  the  visiting  nurse  was  to  try  to  dis¬ 
pose  those  whom  she  assisted  to  lead  a  more  Christian  life 
and  to  prepare  the  dying  for  death.4 

In  order  that  the  members  of  the  confraternity  might 
“practice  in  their  entirety  and  with  edification  the  corporal 
and  spiritual  works  of  mercy,”  they  were  to  “have  the  dead 
buried  at  the  expense  of  the  confraternity.”  The  regula¬ 
tions  obliged  them  to  “furnish  the  shrouds  for  the  deceased 
poor  who  have  none,”  to  have  the  grave  dug,  if  the  deceased 
had  “no  provision  made  elsewhere,  or  if  the  rector  of  the 
hospital”  did  not  provide  for  it  as  he  had  “to  be  asked  to  do.” 
They  were  further  instructed  to  “attend  in  a  body  the  funeral 
of  the  poor  sick  whom  they  have  assisted,”  if  they  could 
“conveniently  do  so,  taking  in  this  regard  the  place  of  moth¬ 
ers  who  accompany  their  children  to  the  grave.”  Even  with 
the  grave  their  duties  towards  the  poor  sick  did  not  cease ; 
they  were  instructed  to  “have  a  Low  Mass  said  for  the  repose 
of  their  souls.” 

It  is  striking  that  St.  Vincent,  otherwise  so  given  to  de- 


#  4  For  further  details  on  the  spiritual  care  of  the  sick,  as  also  on  the 
spiritual  exercises  demanded  of  the  nurse,  cf.  The  Supernatural  in  Social 
Service  in  the  preceding  chapter. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


169 


tails  in  these  instructions,  is  practically  silent  on  the  subject 
of  medical  care.  Still  we  know  from  a  few  scattered  state¬ 
ments  that  medical  care  was  given  by  the  women  of  these 
confraternities.  Two  of  the,  constitutions  that  have  been 
studied  for  this  work  state  in  general  terms  that  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  the  confraternity  is,  among  other  things,  to  admin¬ 
ister  to  the  sick  “the  necessary  medicaments”  during  the 
period  of  their  illnesses.  Moreover,  we  know  that  it  was 
St.  Vincent’s  endeavor  to  establish  these  confraternities  in 
towns  and  villages  where  there  were  no  hospitals.  And  again, 
we  are  told  that  St.  Vincent’s  rules  for  the  relief  work  at 
Macon  prescribed  “that  the  bashful  poor  of  the  town  be 
assisted  in  their  illnesses  and  provided  with  the  proper 
remedies  as  in  the  other  places  where  the  conference  was 
established.”5  “To  prepare  the  remedies”  is  enumerated 
by  Abelly  among  “the  necessary  and  usual  assistances”  ren¬ 
dered  by  the  conferences  to  the  sick.  The  same  author  tells 
us  again  that  Mile,  le  Gras  took  “drugs  to  compound  the 
remedies”  with  her  when  she  visited  these  confraternities 
and  that  she  instructed  the  women  in  the  care  of  the  sick.6 

B.  The  Ladies  of  the  Parishes 

A  number  of  Parisian  ladies  had  seen  the  marvelous 
results  of  St.  Vincent’s  confraternities  in  the  towns  and 
villages  where  they  had  their  country  villas.  They  conceived 
the  idea  of  offering  the  same  benefits  to  the  poor  sick  of  the 
capital.  Here  there  was  always  a  large  number  of  families 
of  workers  and  artisans  who  lived  daily  from  hand  to  mouth. 
When  the  bread  winner  fell  sick  and,  as  frequently  hap¬ 
pened,  either  through  shame  or  for  other  reasons  did  not 
wish  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital,  the  family  was  in  great 
distress.  These  the  Ladies  resolved  to  assist.  They  accord¬ 
ingly  spoke  to  the  pastors  of  various  parishes  on  the  subject. 
The  priests  heartily  approved  of  the  plan  and  requested  St. 
Vincent  to  establish  his  work  in  their  parishes.  The  first 
establishment  was  made  in  the  parish  of  St.  Saveur.7 
Identical  establishments  soon  sprang  up  in  most  of  the 

5  Abelly,  i.,  98. 

6  Ibid.,  160,  1 66. 

7  Reglement  de  la  Confrerie  de  Charite  de  Paroisse  de  Saint-Saveur, 
1629,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  452-4. 


170 


THE  CHARITIES 


parishes  of  Paris  and  also  in  many  other  cities  of  the  realm 
and  even  in  foreign  countries. 

St.  Vincent  here  found  himself  confronted  with  a  novel 
situation.  Those  whom  he  had  thus  far  organized  and 
directed  in  the  field  of  charity  were  for  the  most  part  women 
accustomed  to  the  performance  of  the  ordinary  household 
duties  and  hence  both  desirous  and  capable  of  rendering 
personal  service  to  the  sick.  But  those  now  seeking  direction 
were  mostly  society  women.  Vincent,  therefore,  drew  up  an 
entirely  new  set  of  regulations.  He  traced  out  merely  the 
broad  lines  along  which  they  were  to  work,  leaving  the 
details  to  their  own  interest  and  enthusiasm  and  to  the 
initiative  of  the  individual  parish  priests  at  whose  request 
he  compiled  these  regulations. 

The  officers  were  three  in  number  and  elected  by  the 
vote  of  the  members  as  in  the  other  confraternities.  Nothing 
is  said  concerning  the  duration  of  their  term  of  office.  The 
superioress  was  entrusted  with  the  general  direction  of  the 
association.  The  treasurer  had  the  care  of  the  money  and 
of  the  receipts  of  the  special  collections  taken  up  at  the 
church  on  Sundays  by  the  women  and  not  by  the  young 
ladies.  The  custodian  of  the  wardrobe  kept  “the  mattresses, 
sheets,  covers,  shirts,  and  other  commodities  necessary  for 
the  sick.”  She  also  was  instructed  “to  loan  them  to  the  said 
sick  and  to  get  them  back,  so  that  nothing  be  lost.”  The 
three  officers  could  “do  nothing  without  mutual  consultation.” 

Each  member  was  allotted  her  charges.  The  superioress 
had  the  care  of  as  many  sick  as  she  could  “go  to  see  at  the 
order  of  the  physician.”  They  were  instructed  to  go  two  and 
two,  never  alone,  and  to  visit  the  sick  twice  a  week,  while 
the  ecclesiastic  at  the  head  of  the  association  was  to  do  so 
every  day. 

Before  the  Ladies  took  a  case  in  hand  the  physician  was 
to  visit  the  sick  person  and  order  the  necessaries  as  regards 
both  the  medicines  and  the  bleeding.  This  order  was  brought 
to  the  superioress  for  her  to  sign.  She  then  admitted  the 
sick  person  to  the  care  of  the  confraternity  if  she  learned 
“from  the  prompt  investigation”  which  she  made  that  the 
person  was  otherwise  admissible,  i.  e.,  “if  he  had  been  a 
member  of  the  parish  for  at  least  three  months  and  was  not 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


171 


afflicted  with  a  lingering  disease.”  The  care  of  the  latter 
class  of  invalids  would  hinder  the  Ladies  in  the  relief  of 
others. 

Moreover,  the  physician  had  to  send  the  superioress  a 
certificate  testifying  that  the  patient  could  be  visited  with¬ 
out  danger  of  infection.  If  he  had  not  studied  the  case  suffi¬ 
ciently  to  make  this  statement,  he  merely  gave  a  prescription 
to  send  to  the  sick  such  nourishment  as  he  deemed  necessary. 

This  constitution  distinguishes  itself  from  those  of  the 
towns  and  villages  by  the  prominence  given  to  the  physician 
and  also  by  the  fact  that  no  mention  is  made  either  of  the 
food  to  be  given  to  the  sick  or  of  the  manner  of  serving  it. 

Another  important  distinction  consisted  in  the  fact  that, 
while  the  food  was  furnished  by  the  confraternity  in  the 
towns  and  villages,  it  was  given  by  the  Ladies  themselves  in 
Paris.  Abelly  says  on  this  point:  “It  was  at  their  expense 
that  one  prepared  at  their  homes  the  soups,  the  meats,  and 
other  things  necessary  for  the  nourishment  of  the  poor  sick 
of  the  parish ;  this  they  did  one  after  the  other  and  each  on 
her  day.”8 

As  has  been  seen,  the  Ladies  were  required  by  the  regu¬ 
lations  to  go  in  person  to  relieve  the  sick  in  their  homes. 
It  was  on  this  point  that  the  association  broke  down  already 
during  the  first  year.  Some  of  the  Ladies,  in  spite  of  their 
good  will,  had  underestimated  the  difficulties,  and  as  the 
work  multiplied,  proved  unequal  to  “the  low,  laborious  serv¬ 
ices”  exacted  of  them ;  others  were  hampered  by  their  own 
domestic  duties  and  social  obligations ;  others  were  hindered 
by  their  husbands  or  parents ;  while  still  others  who  had 
entered  the  work,  attracted  by  its  novelty  and  not  actuated 
with  love  for  the  poor,  became  negligent  and  careless.  They 
began  sending  their  servants  in  their  stead.  These  fre¬ 
quently  lacked  both  skill  and  love  for  the  work  and  in  con¬ 
sequence  proved  unsatisfactory.  This  occasioned  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity.9 


8  Abelly.  ii.,  439. 

9  Lett.,  i.,  108.  No.  101.  To  Mile,  le  Gras, 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  181,  No.  18.  Jan.  22,  1645; 
1646;  Ibid.,  395,  No.  35,  Dec.  22.  1648;  Ibid.,  530, 


July  21,  1635 ;  Confer,  aux 
Ibid.,  2 to,  No.  21,  Feb.  13, 
No.  45,  Feb.  24,  1653;  Ibid., 


172 


THE  CHARITIES 


C.  The  Ladies  of  VHotel-Dieu 

In  the  early  months  of  1634  circumstances  led  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  to  organize  a  third  type  of  visiting  nurses.  They  were 
destined  to  visit  the  sick,  not  in  their  homes  as  the  two  pre¬ 
vious  confraternities  were  doing,  but  in  the  Hotel-Dieu  at 
Paris.  This  confraternity,  important  from  the  beginning  on 
account  of  the  number  and  the  social  prominence  of  its  mem¬ 
bers,  attained  still  greater  importance  in  the  sequel  by  the 
variety  and  vastness  of  its  activities.  The  credit  of  con¬ 
ceiving  the  idea  is  due  to  Mme.  Goussault.  She  had  fre¬ 
quently  visited  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  had  seen  that  the  sick 
were  not  being  properly  cared  for. 

The  spiritual  affairs  of  the  hospital  were  administered 
by  the  chapter  of  Notre-Dame,  or  rather  by  a  delegate  of 
the  chapter,  and  the  temporal  matters  by  the  so-called  gov¬ 
ernors.  The  ordinary  number  of  the  patients  was  at  least 
ten  or  twelve  hundred;  at  times  the  number  was  almost 
doubled.  They  were  constantly  coming  and  going.  Fifty, 
sixty,  eighty,  and  at  times  a  hundred  poor  sick  entered  daily, 
some  to  remain  a  week,  others  a  fortnight,  others  a  month 
or  more,  and  others  to  die.  Twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand 
passed  through  the  hospital  annually.  According  to  Feillet, 
even  though  the  revenues  had  been  rich,  they  would  have 
sufficed  to  render  proper  care  to  only  one  fourth  of  the  1800 
patients  there  in  1631. 

The  Order  of  the  Augustinian  Brothers  of  the  Hotel- 
Dieu  had  become  defunct  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  to 
the  great  spiritual  detriment  of  the  patients.  The  activity 
of  the  Augustinian  Sisters,  numbering  at  this  time  about  100 
professed  and  50  novices,  fluctuated  until  1635,  when  one  of 
them,  Genevieve  Bouquet,  definitively  organized  their  com¬ 
mon  life.  The  members  of  the  Company  of  the  Blessed  Sac¬ 
rament  decided  in  1632  to  send  a  layman  and  an  ecclesiastic 
to  the  hospital  weekly  to  instruct  the  sick  and  to  hear  their 
confessions. 

The  rules  of  the  institution  had  long  demanded  that  the 
patient  go  to  Confession  before  being  admitted.  This  led 
to  grave  abuses.  The  sick  at  best  were  either  unable  or 
unprepared.  Many  merely  simulated  Confession  for  fear 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


173 


of  being  refused  admission.  The  spiritual  care  of  the  pa¬ 
tients  was  then  practically  neglected  until  they  were  on  the 
point  of  death.10 

Such  in  brief  were  the  conditions  with  which  Mme.  Gous- 
sault  came  in  contact  on  her  visits  to  the  Hotel-Dieu,  and 
which  she  hoped  to  ameliorate  with  the  aid  of  St.  Vincent. 
In  doing  so  she  was  perhaps  unaware  that  she  was  but  renew¬ 
ing  an  attempt  made  by  a  number  of  charitable  ladies  during 
the  early  years  of  the  century,  but  abandoned  after  an  un¬ 
successful  trial  of  four  years.* 11 

St.  Vincent  wanted  time  to  deliberate,  not  only  as  was 
his  wont  regarding  all  new  undertakings,  but  for  the  addi¬ 
tional  reason  that  here  it  was  a  question  “of  using  one’s 
sickle  in  another’s  harvest,”  to  which  he  was  ever  character¬ 
istically  averse.  Nothing  daunted,  the  pious  lady  had  re¬ 
course  to  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  He  approved  of  the  plan 
and  communicated  his  wishes  to  Vincent.  “Recognizing  the 
will  of  God  through  the  organ  of  his  prelate,”  Vincent  imme¬ 
diately  set  to  work  with  enthusiasm.  A  confraternity  was 
very  soon  organized  with  a  membership  of  a  hundred  to  a 
hundred  and  twenty,  among  them  ladies  of  the  highest 
French  nobility.12 

They  had  the  usual  staff  of  officers :  the  president  with 
her  two  assistants  and  the  spiritual  director.  St.  Vincent 
was  to  hold  this  latter  office  permanently. 

For  the  success  of  this  work,  St.  Vincent  foresaw  the 
prime  importance  of  having  the  good  will  and  the  coopera¬ 
tion  of  the  administrators  and  nurses  of  the  Hotel-Dieu.  He 
accordingly  went  in  person  to  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
administrators  of  the  institution  and  informed  them  of  the 
Archbishop’s  orders  and  of  the  good  intentions  of  the  Ladies. 
The  administrators  not  only  passively  consented,  but  urged 

10  Cf.,  v.g.,  Chevalier,  V Hotel-Dieu  de  Paris  et  les  Soenrs  Augustines, 
253  sqq. ;  Feillet,  La  Misere  au  temps  de  la  Fronde,  25;  Statuts  d’Hotels- 
Dieu  et  de  Leproseries,  46,  No.  21;  Coste,  3  sqq.;  Govau,  76;  Abelly,  i., 
197.  205. 

11  In  1608,  the  administrators  of  the  hospital  welcomed  the  ladies  who 
came  to  assist  the  sick  at  their  meals  and  to  bring  them  sweetmeats ;  but 
four  years  later,  the  religious  were  forbidden  to  receive  bread,  wine,  and 
meat  for  the  sick,  since  the  inconveniences  and  the  confusion  resulting 
therefrom  were  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  advantages.  Chevalier,  253. 

12  Abelly,  i.,  195;  Lett.,  i.,  87,  No.  76,  To  M.  du  Coudray  at  Rome,  July 
25,  1634. 


174 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  Sisters  “to  receive  the  ladies  religiously,  civilly,  and 
affably,  showing  them  .  .  .  those  who  were  in  the  great¬ 
est  need  in  order  that  they  might  assist  them,  and  then  to 
retire  to  occupy  themselves  with  their  ordinary  occupa¬ 
tions.”13 

St.  Vincent,  on  his  part,  instructed  the  Ladies  “to  present 
themselves  to  the  religious  who  have  care  of  the  sick,  offer¬ 
ing  to  aid  them  in  order  to  participate  in  their  good  works ; 
to  esteem  and  respect  them  and  to  show  them  all  deference. 
If  their  services  were  not  always  kindly  received  by  the 
religious,  they  were  to  “make  excuses  and  endeavor  to  enter 
into  their  sentiments  without  ever  contradicting  or  grieving 
them  or  wishing  to  dominate  over  them.” 

This  prudent  approach  and  the  resulting  kindly  relations 
soon  effected  that  the  Ladies  had  full  liberty  to  go  from  hall 
to  hall  and  from  bed  to  bed  on  their  mission  of  charity.  (See 
pp.  114-5.) 

The  Ladies,  when  visiting  the  sick  at  the  hospital,  were 
instructed  “to  dress  as  simply  as  possible  ...  in  order  to 
appear  poor  with  the  poor,”  that  the  contrast  between  luxury 
and  poverty  might  not  accentuate  the  sorry  plight  of  the 
poor.  (See  pp.  148-9.) 

Upon  entering  the  hospital,  they  were  “to  invoke  .  .  .  the 
assistance  of  our  Lord,  Who  is  the  true  Father  of  the  poor, 
through  the  intercession  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  of  St. 
Louis,  the  founder”  of  the  institution  ;14  or,  as  the  constitu¬ 
tion  of  1660  says :  “They  shall  enter  the  chapel  of  the  said 
Hotel-Dieu  and  adore  our  Lord,  offer  to  Him  the  service  they 
have  come  to  render,  and  ask  Him  graciously  to  accept  it 
and  to  grant  them  for  this  purpose  the  charity  and  the 
humility  with  which  He  honored  St.  Louis  in  the  same 
place.” 

The  rendering  of  spiritual  aid  to  the  poor  sick  of  the 
Hotel-Dieu  was  the  prime  purpose  of  this  association.  The 
instructions  demanded  that  they  receive  Communion  on  the 
days  on  which  they  were  employed  in  this  good  work,  in 


13  Chevalier,  338,  sqq. 

14  The  points  of  this  paragraph  are  taken  from  the  original  instructions 
of  St.  Vincent,  1634.  Abelly,  i.,  198  sqq. ;  the  regulations  of  1636,  Coste, 
1 13-4;  and  the  constitutions  of  1660,  Coste,  100  sqq. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


175 


order  that  it  might  “please  God  to  speak  Himself  through 
their  mouths  to  these  poor  people.”  They  went  in  turns  to 
the  hospital  every  day  at  two  o’clock.  Each  one  had  to  work 
in  that  quarter  of  the  hospital  which  happened  to  fall  to  her 
lot  on  her  first  visit  there,  until  she  had  disposed  all  to  make 
a  general  Confession. 

The  Ladies  were  “to  conduct  themselves  toward  the  poor 
sick  with  great  humility,  meekness  and  affability,  sympa¬ 
thizing  with  them  in  their  misfortunes,  exhorting  them  to 
suffer  with  patience  and  with  submission  to  the  will  of  God.” 
The  women  and  girls  “whom  they  found  ignorant  of  the 
things  necessary  for  salvation”  they  were  to  instruct  “in  a 
familiar  manner  and  by  way  of  conversation,”  and  to  dis¬ 
pose  “to  make  a  general  Confession,  if  they  saw  that  they 
had  need  of  it.”13  Finally,  the  Ladies  were  instructed  to  “try 
to  prepare  them  to  die  well  if  their  sicknesses  were  danger¬ 
ous,  or  to  make  the  firm  resolution  to  lead  a  good  life  if  they 
had  hope  of  recovering  their  health.” 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  work  of  the  Ladies,  St.  Vincent 
had  a  special  little  catechism  containing  the  more  necessary 
points  of  instruction  printed  for  their  use.  They  were  told 
to  hold  this  book  in  their  hands  during  the  instructions  and 
to  limit  their  teaching  to  its  contents  in  order  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  preaching  or  of  following  their  own  mind  in 
so  important  a  matter. 

Before  retiring  after  completing  their  work  for  the  day, 
the  regulations  urged  them  to  “adore  the  Blessed  Sacra¬ 
ment,”  to  “thank  God  for  the  grace”  which  He  had  given 
them  “of  making  use  of  them  for  the  salvation  of  these  poor 
members,”  and  to  pray  Him  “to  grant  them  the  grace  of 
making  their  Confession  well.” 

After  two  years’  experience,  St.  Vincent  saw  the  utility 
of  assigning  the  task  of  instructing  the  sick  to  the  Ladies 
better  fitted  for  the  work  by  piety  and  learning.  Fourteen16 
were  chosen  by  the  officers  to  devote  themselves  exclusively 
to  it,  two  for  each  day  of  the  week.  Their  appointment 


15  Priests  were  assigned  for  the  instruction  of  the  men. 

16  This  number  was  retained  throughout  (Coste,  103,  7,  i°)  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  St.  Vincent  was  of  the  opinion  for  a  time  that  seven  sufficed 
{Lett,  et  Confer.  [ Suppl. ]_,  227). 


176 


THE  CHARITIES 


lasted  three  months.17  At  the  lapse  of  this  time  others  were 
chosen  to  replace  them.  At  the  time  of  these  elections,  both 
the  Ladies  who  had  finished  their  term  of  office  and  those 
newly  elected,  together  with  the  officers  of  the  association, 
held  a  meeting  in  the  room  near  the  Hotel-Dieu.  Here,  for 
the  instruction  and  encouragement  of  these  newly  chosen, 
the  Ladies  who  were  leaving  office  gave  a  detailed  report  of 
their  methods  of  approach  and  procedure,  of  the  difficulties 
they  encountered  in  their  work,  and  of  their  successes  and 
failures. 

Special  care  was  taken  to  have  priests  on  hand  to  com¬ 
plete  the  work  begun  by  the  Ladies.  At  the  request  of  the 
Company  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  seven  religious  com¬ 
munities  had  pledged  themselves  in  1633  to  send  a  priest 
on  a  specified  day  of  each  week  to  hear  the  Confessions  of 
the  sick.  The  plan  succeeded  for  a  year  and  was  then  aban¬ 
doned.  With  the  consent  of  the  superiors  the  Ladies  now 
engaged  and  paid  two  priests  to  devote  their  time  to  the 
work,  one  of  whom  was  conversant  with  several  languages. 
As  the  volume  of  the  work  increased,  however,  they  proved 
insufficient.  Accordingly,  in  1642,  again  after  due  consulta¬ 
tion  and  with  the  requisite  permission,  their  number  was 
increased  to  six,  apart  from  those  ordinarily  stationed  at 
the  Hotel-Dieu.  These  ecclesiastics  were  to  devote  their 
entire  time  and  service  to  the  spiritual  instruction  of  the 
men  and  to  the  administration  of  the  sacraments  to  all  the 
sick.  For  this  reason  they  were  dispensed  from  assisting 
at  the  divine  offices.  Before  entering  upon  their  duties,  they 
made  a  spiritual  retreat  at  Saint-Lazare  and  renewed  it 
there  every  year.  They  were  lodged  and  fed  at  the  Hotel- 
Dieu.  In  addition  to  a  salary  of  40  crowns,  the  Ladies 
assured  them  of  stipends  for  their  Masses  which  they  went 
daily  to  read  at  the  church  of  Notre-Dame.18 

The  results  of  these  efforts  were  very  satisfactory.  In 
the  first  place,  the  abuse  of  forcing  the  patients  into  a  hur¬ 
ried  Confession  before  being  admitted  was  discontinued. 


17  According  to  the  first  plan  it  was  to  last  six  months  (Coste,  113,  2°), 
but  very  soon,  probably  the  same  year,  it  was  reduced  to  three  (Idem. 
116,  3°). 

18  Abelly,  i.,  204-5;  Chevalier,  320;  Coste,  15. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


177 


Other  results,  which  St.  Vincent  reports  in  a  conference  to 
the  Ladies,  are  the  reconciliations  “of  the  poor  sick  in  their 
quarrels,  which  are  frequent,”  the  reformation  of  “a  number 
of  women  who  have  two  husbands”  and  of  others  of  loose 
morals;  young  women  of  twenty  to  twenty-five  years  who 
are  in  sin,  promise  rather  to  die  than  to  offend  God,”  chil¬ 
dren  are  instructed,  the  sick  are  consoled  and  prepared  for 
the  reception  of  the  different  Sacraments  and  assisted  at 
their  death.19 

But  the  Ladies  did  not  limit  their  activities  to  the  spir¬ 
itual  relief  of  the  poor  sick.  In  order  not  to  make  their  visits 
empty-handed  they,  in  agreement  with  St.  Vincent,  from 
the  beginning  thought  it  expedient  to  bring  some  little  deli¬ 
cacies  by  way  of  collation  between  dinner  and  supper.  They 
rented  a  room  near  the  Hotel-Dieu  where  these  were  kept 
and  prepared.  The  Daughters  of  Charity  were  engaged  to 
take  charge  of  buying  and  preparing  the  necessary  things, 
and  to  assist  the  Ladies  in  distributing  them  to  the  sick.20 
Every  morning  milk  soup  was  distributed  to  those  sick  whose 
condition  allowed  it.21  At  about  three  o'clock  in  the  after¬ 
noon22  they  brought  the  collation  for  all.23  It  consisted  of 


19  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl),  227,  228;  Coste,  120-2. 

20  The  Ladies  had  from  the  beginning  the  thought  of  enlisting  the  aid 
of  the  Daughters  of  Charity.  On  the  day  after  the  first  preliminary  meet¬ 
ing,  St.  Vincent  wrote  to  Mile,  le  Gras  that  they  would  need  four  of  the 
Daughters  (Lett.,  i.,  91,  No.  82,  June,  1634).  The  plan,  was,  however,  for 
the  time  being  abandoned,  for  a  few  days  later  St.  Vincent  wrote  to  Mile, 
le  Gras:  “I  think  they  will  not  take  your  Daughters  for  the  Hotel-Dieu. 
They  think  that  women  whom  one  presents  from  the  city  will  be  better 
fitted  to  represent  the  Ladies  in  their  absence”  (Ibid.,  348,  No.  308,  in¬ 
correctly  dated  1640).  If  this  second  plan  was  put  into  execution  it  was 
only  for  a  very  short  time,  since  some  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  were 
already  in  the  service  of  the  Ladies  at  the  Hotel-Dieu  before  July  31,  1634 
( Confer .  aux.  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  7,  No.  1,  July  31,  1634;  Cf.  Coste,  12). 
According  to  the  constitution  of  1660,  the  Daughters  were  also  “to  inform 
the  Ladies  to  whom  and  how  they  ought  to  distribute  them  [the  collations], 
showing  them  the  dying  and  the  convalescent  ready  to  leave.  .  .”  (Coste, 
106). 

21  This  was  later  discontinued  by  the  Ladies,  because  the  hospital 
authorities  attended  to  it.  Abelly,  i.,  200. 

22  The  Constitution  of  1660  provides  that  the  Ladies  repair  to  the  hos¬ 
pital  at  2  o’clock  and  leave  at  5  o’clock  in  summer  and  at  4  in  winter. 
Coste,  103-4. 

23  St.  Vincent,  however,  once  upbraided  “some  of  the  Ladies  who  dis¬ 
tribute  the  collations  to  all  the  poor  against  the  order,  which  is  that  they 
be  given  only  to  the  most  sick.”  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  228,  40,  No.  9; 
Coste,  122,  30,  No.  4. 


178 


THE  CHARITIES 


white  bread,  biscuits,  preserves  and  jelly;  grapes  and  cher¬ 
ries  in  season ;  and  citrons,  cooked  pears,  and  sugared  toast 
during  the  winter.24 

Though  forced  by  economy  to  diminish  the  quantity  of 
the  collations,  the  Ladies  continued  the  service  throughout25 
in  spite  of  the  expense,  which  for  the  fiscal  year  1657 
amounted  to  5,000  livres,  whereas  the  receipts  for  that  year 
were  only  3,500  livres,  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  some 
of  the  Ladies  who  failed  to  see  its  utility.  In  its  defence  St. 
Vincent  stated  that,  though  diminished-,  the  sick  were  as 
satisfied  with  it  as  in  the  beginning,  that  the  religious  and 
people  who  had  been  frequenting  the  hospital  for  twenty 
years  were  convinced  of  its  practicality,  but  especially 
that  it  gave  the  Ladies  entrance  into  the  Hotel-Dieu,  where 
both  they  and  the  sick  derived  profit  and  the  religious  were 
given  encouragement.26 

We  find  several  statements  of  St.  Vincent  which  throw 
some  light  on  the  actual  working  relations  which  existed 
between  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  the  religious  of  the  insti¬ 
tution.  He  wishes  “that  the  Ladies  no  longer  complain  to  the 
Sisters  because  the  sick  are  wanting  in  cleanliness.”  This, 
he  adds,  “should  not  cause  wonderment  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  750  sheets  are  needed  daily.”  Some  of  the  Ladies  were 
complaining  that  they  did  not  find  the  same  Sisters  in  the 
halls  from  visit  to  visit.  Vincent  tells  them  it  is  necessary 
to  change  them ;  otherwise  “in  the  course  of  time  they  con¬ 
tract  serious  illnesses  and  die.”  Furthermore,  “the  Ladies 
should  not  notify  the  religious  of  the  want  which  they  might 


24  On  account  of  the  expenses  the  Ladies  also  discontinued  giving  the 
bread  and  pears,  but  the  former  was  taken  up  by  the  hospital  authorities. 
Lett,  et  Confer.  ( Suppl. ),  226,  No.  9;  Coste,  120,  No.  4. 

25  Coste,  103.  St.  Vincent  could  say  in  1639  or  1640  that  it  had  never 
been  interrupted  except  for  twenty  days,  as  a  measure  of  precaution  while 

'  some  contagious  cases  were  reported  at  the  Hotel-Dieu  (Lett,  et  Confer. 
[Suppl. ],  226,  No.  9;  Coste,  119,  No.  4).  It  was  again  interrupted  in 
July,  1640  (Coste,  120,  n.  1).  St.  Vincent  wished  to  have  the  Ladies  avoid 
entering  the  hall  of  the  contagious  by  sending  in  their  place  Daughters  of 
Charity  (quelques  bonnes  files  devotes)  who  were  willing  to  sacrifice  them¬ 
selves  (Lett,  i.,  174,  No.  170,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  1637;  Coste,  11).  The  con¬ 
stitution  of  1660  specifically  states  that  the  Daughters  shall  fulfill  the  duties 
of  the  Ladies  “when  there  is  rumor  of  contagion  and  when  the  said  Ladies 
cannot  go  to  the  said  Hotel-Dieu  without  danger”  (Coste,  106). 

26  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  202,  No.  6,  July  11,  1657;  Ibid.,  226,  228, 
No.  9;  Coste,  120,  122,  No.  4;  Idem,  157,  No.  14. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


179 


find  among  the  sick,  but  should  address  themselves  to  one 
of  the  officers”  of  the  confraternity.27 

St.  Vincent  expresses  his  appreciation  for  this  work  of 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  in  one  of  his  letters.  He  writes : 
“Those  who  have  not  seen  it,  find  it  almost  incredible  and 
those  who  witness  it  are  edified.  For,  indeed,  this  life  is 
the  life  of  saints  and  of  great  saints  who  serve  our  Lord  in 
His  members  in  the  best  possible  manner.28 

D.  The  Daughters  of  Charity 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  comprised  the  second  class 
of  St.  Vincent’s  social  workers — those  who  devoted  their 
entire  time  to  the  care  of  the  poor,  even  adopting  it  as  their 
life’s  work.  As  already  stated,  they  owe  their  origin  imme¬ 
diately  to  the  failure  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Parishes  to  render 
personal  service  to  the  sick  in  their  homes.  The  Ladies  were 
delegating  their  servants  to  fulfil  their  duties  of  charity 
with  very  unsatisfactory  results.29  Both  the  Ladies  and 
St.  Vincent  saw  the  need  of  engaging  workers  who  were  at 
once  willing  and  capable  as  well  as  in  a  position  to  devote 
their  entire  time  to  the  work. 

At  this  juncture,  Marguerite  Naseau,  a  poor  girl  from 
Suresne,  presented  herself  to  Mile,  le  Gras  and  expressed 
her  willingness  to  nurse  the  sick  under  the  direction  of  the 
Ladies.  She  was  given  some  instruction  in  the  care  of  the 
sick  and  assigned  to  the  parish  of  Saint-Saveur.  She  ren¬ 
dered  such  excellent  service  that  the  Ladies  of  the  other 
parishes  asked  for  similar  workers.30 

St.  Vincent  on  his  missions  in  the  country  districts  had 

27  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  228,  No.  9;  Coste,  117,  No.  3;  Idem,  121-2, 
No.  4. 

28  Lett.,  ii.,  278,  No.  741,  To  M.  Cornaire,  almoner  of  Hospital  at  le  Mans, 
Sept.  20,  1650. 

29  Some  of  the  Ladies,  however,  even  after  the  foundation  of  the 
Daughters  of  Charity,  continued  to  visit  the  sick  in  person.  As  late  as 
1642,  Vincent  spoke  thus  to  the  Daughters:  “You  are  witness,  you  par¬ 
ticularly,  our  Sisters  of  Saint-Sulpice,  with  what  zeal  and  what  fervor  these 
good  princesses  and  these  noble  ladies,  whom  you  accompany,  serve  the 
poor.”  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  56,  No.  8,  June  14,  1642, 

30  Marguerite  Naseau,  the  first  Daughter  of  Charity,  had  learned  to 
read  on  her  own  initiative  while  herding  cattle  in  the  fields,  and  then  had 
taught  other  poor  children.  St.  Vincent  had  met  her  at  Villepreux  during 
a  mission.  She  worked  also  in  the  parishes  of  Saint-Nicolas-du-Char- 
donnet  and  of  Saint-Benoit.  She  died  of  the  pest  which  she  contracted 
while  ministering  to  the  sick. 


180 


THE  CHARITIES 


met  a  number  of  pious,  self-sacrificing  girls,  who  like  Mar¬ 
guerite  Naseau,  on  the  one  hand,  were  not  disposed  to  enter 
the  married  state  and,  on  the  other,  lacked  either  the  desire 
or  the  requisite  dowry  to  become  religious.  These,  he 
thought,  could  be  brought  into  the  service  of  the  poor  sick 
and  with  proper  guidance  become  well  fitted  to  meet  the 
need.  A  number  of  such  girls  was  soon  procured.  Thus 
was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity.31 

The  training  that  the  first  Daughters  of  Charity  were 
given  has  been  discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter  under  the 
head  of  The  Social  Worker  (pp.  139-44) . 

It  was  St.  Vincent’s  first  endeavor  to  place  one  Daughter 
of  Charity  in  each  parish  where  the  confraternity  of  the 
Ladies  was  established.  He  increased  the  number,  usually 
appointing  two  or  three  to  each  parish,32  and  assigned  the 
Daughters  to  other  places  and  to  other  duties  as  the  Con¬ 
gregation  grew. 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  were  subject  to  the  Ladies  in 
all  that  pertained  to  the  care  of  the  sick.  Their  relations 
are  thus  described  by  St.  Vincent  himself  when  addressing 
the  Daughters :  “It  is  for  them  to  order  and  for  you  to 
obey.  .  .  .  You  must  .  .  .  not  encroach  upon  their  author¬ 
ity  in  any  way  by  ordering  things  yourselves.  .  .  .  They  are 
as  the  head  of  a  body  and  you  are  only  the  feet.”33  More¬ 
over,  their  rule  demands  that  “they  shall  render  .  .  .  obedi¬ 
ence  in  that  which  regards  the  service  of  the  poor  ...  to 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  the  parishes,  who  are  in  charge.”34 

31  Confer,  aux  Filles,  de  la  Char,  i.,  181-2,  No.  18,  Jan.  22,  1645;  Ibid., 
210,  No.  21,  Febr.  13,  1646;  Ibid.,  395,  No.  35,  Dec.  22,  1648;  Ibid.,  530-1, 
No.  45,  Febr.  24,  1653. — In  founding  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  St.  Vincent 
did  not  found  a  religious  order.  Throughout  his  life  he  took  every  precau¬ 
tion  that  they  be  not  religious  either  in  name  or  in  reality.  Cf.  Confer,  aux 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  92,  No.  61,  Aug.  1  &  8,  1655;  &  Ibid.,  603-4,  No.  103, 
Aug.  241  &  Oct.  19,  1659.  They  were  to  have  “as  convent  only  the  homes 
of  the  sick;  as  cell,  a  rented  room;  as  chapel,  the  parish  church;  as  cloister, 
the  streets  of  the  city  or  the  halls  of  the  hospitals;  as  enclosure,  obedience; 
as  grating,  the  fear  of  God;  and  as  veil,  holy  modesty.”  Reg.  com.,  ch.  i., 
art.  2. 

32  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  497. 

33  Ibid.,  167-8,  No.  1,  Date  unknown,  Cf.  also  Abelly,  ii.,  634,  Pieces 
Justi fixatives,  I.  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  54,  No.  8,  June,  14,  1642; 
Ibid.  604,  No.  51,  May  25,  1654;  Ibid.,  ii.,  319,  No.  79,  Nov.  11,  1657;  Ibid., 
351,  No.  81,  Dec.  2,  1657;  Ibid.,  614,  Aug.  24,  1659. 

34  Reg.  Comm.,  ch.  iv.,  art.  4,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  346. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


181 


The  Daughters  were  in  particular  forbidden  “to  under¬ 
take  the  care  of  any  sick  or  to  give  anything  to  any  poor 
person  contrary  to  the  prescribed  order  or  against  the  in¬ 
tention  of  the  lady  officers.”35  They  were  to  keep  the  Ladies 
well  informed  concerning  the  condition  of  the  sick,  to  get 
their  orders  from  them,  and  to  render  to  them  an  account 
of  their  work.  They  were  instructed  to  urge  the  Ladies, 
and  others  as  well,  to  be  generous  in  the  assistance  given  to 
the  poor  sick.36 

Their  attitude  toward  the  sick,  those  who  were  excluded 
from  their  nursing,,  and  their  obedience  toward  the  physi¬ 
cians,  have  been  discussed  in  the  foregoing  chapter  under 
the  caption  of  The  Nurse  (pp.  147-52). 

St.  Vincent  thus  traces  out  their  daily  programme.  “Im¬ 
mediately  after  the  morning’s  meditation,  and  in  summer 
even  before  the  reading  of  the  subject,  they  shall  be  solic¬ 
itous  to  bring  the  medicines  to  the  sick,  and  upon  their  return 
they  shall  go  to  Mass,  during  which  they  shall  be  able  to 
make  their  meditation  when  they  have  not  been  able  to  do 
so  at  4  :30  o’clock.”  After  breakfast,  taken  in  their  room 
and  consisting  of  a  morsel  of  bread,  “they  shall  repair  at 
the  usual  hour,  or  sooner  if  need  be,  to  the  house  of  the 
Lady  where  the  kettle  of  the  sick”  has  been  left  the  previous 
evening,  “in  order  that  the  kettle  be  ready  at  exactly  nine 
o’clock  or  later  and  that  they  be  returned  at  11 :30  o’clock.” 

“After  dinner  they  shall  have  care  to  read  the  prescrip¬ 
tions  of  the  physician  and  prepare  the  remedies  to  bring 
them  to  the  sick  at  the  necessary  hour,  and  leave  the  kettle 
for  the  morrow  at  the  home  of  the  Lady  whose  turn  it  is,” 
unless  the  Daughters  have  accommodations  to  prepare  the 
food  themselves.  “After  supper  they  shall  prepare  the  medi¬ 
cines  for  the  following  morning.”37 

The  Daughters  of  Charity,  therefore,  visited  daily  all 

35  Reg.  Part,  aux  Soeurs  des  Paroisses,  ch.  xviii.,  art.  4,  Confer,  aux 
Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  623.  Cf.  also  Reg.  Comm.,  ch.  vii.,  art.  3,  Ibid.,  318; 

Ibid.,  319. 

36  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  167;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  186, 
No.  19,  Jan.  29,  1645;  Reg.  Comm.,  ch.  vii.,  art.  3,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la 

Char.,  ii.,  318. 

37  Reg.  Part,  aux  Soeurs  des  Paroisses,  ch.  xviii.,  art.  16,  i°-4°,  Confer, 
aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  628-9.  Cf.  also  Reg.  Comm.,  ch.  vii.,  art.  1,  Ibid., 
311-2;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  52-3,  No.  8,  June  14,  1642. 


182 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  sick  that  were  under  the  care  of  the  confraternity,  ad¬ 
ministering  to  them  both  food  and  medicine.  This  prevented 
them  from  remaining  for  too  long  a  time  with  any  one  sick 
person.  Hence  we  find  the  following  regulation :  “If  there 
be  sick  so  abandoned  that  there  is  no  one  at  hand  to  make 
their  bed  or  to  render  them  some  other  service  still  more 
abject,  they  may  do  it  according  to  the  leisure  which  they 
have,  provided  the  Sister  Servant  [Superioress]  find  it 
proper;  still  they  shall  try  to  obtain,  if  possible,  that  some 
other  person  continues  the  same  charity  toward  them  for 
fear  that  this  may  retard  the  assistance  of  the  other  poor.”38 

In  one  of  St.  Vincent’s  conferences  to  his  Daughters  of 
Charity  we  find  the  question  discussed  whether  or  not  the 
Daughters  should  go  to  the  sick  outside  the  prescribed  times, 
merely  in  order  to  pay  them  friendly  visits  and  “to  console 
them.”  In  support  of  the  proposition,  St.  Vincent  adduces 
the  following  four  reasons :  To  visit  “the  poor  is  in  itself 
an  action  very  pleasing  to  God” ;  these  visits  could  be  very 
beneficial  to  the  sick,  often  in  need  of  instruction,  with 
whom  the  Sisters  in  the  morning  had  no  time  to  tarry; 
they  could  be  beneficial  to  the  Sisters  themselves  since  it 
would  accustom  them  to  seeing  the  sick  and  speaking  with 
them ;  finally,  the  Sisters  could  thus  ascertain  whether  those 
vcho  served  the  sick  acquitted  themselves  worthily  of  their 
charge.  In  opposition  he  advanced  the  following  three  rea¬ 
sons  :  It  might  seem  “that  it  is  not  becoming  that  girls  go 
to  visit  and  console  the  sick  and  that  the  Church  reserves 
this  to  ecclesiastics” ;  the  other  parishes  do  not  have  it,  and 
the  Sisters  ought  to  content  themselves  with  the  ordinary 
service;  and  the  parish  priest  and  the  ecclesiastics  might 
become  dissatisfied  and  fear  an  encroachment  on  their 
charge.  After  some  discussion  it  was  decided  in  the  affirma¬ 
tive  with  the  following  restrictions :  First,  these  visits 
should  be  made  by  the  Daughters  who  distribute  the  medi¬ 
cines  to  the  sick  in  the  afternoons;  secondly,  they  should 
not  be  made  every  day  since,  on  the  one  hand,  the  house  might 
not  always  be  able  to  spare  the  Daughters  for  it  and,  on 
the  other,  the  sick  themselves  might  become  wearied ;  thirdly, 

38  Reg.  Part,  aux  Soeurs  des  Paroisses,  ch.  xiv.,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de 
la  Char.,  ii.,  620. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


183 


an  older  and  a  younger  Daughter  should  always  go  together 
in  order  that  the  latter  might  thus  acquire  some  practical 
knowledge.39 

Where  there  were  two  or  more  Daughters  in  the  same 
parish,  one  of  them  was  appointed  superioress,  called  the 
Sister  Servant.  The  others  were  immediately  responsible 
to  her.  Without  her  permission  they  could  not  even  give 
“an  egg  nor  a  portion  larger  than  the  ordinary  nor  any 
remedy.”40 

They  were  instructed  to  report  monthly  at  the  mother 
house  to  render  an  account  and  also  to  go  thither  once  a 
month  for  a  conference  on  their  rule.  They  were  told  not 
to  come  all  together,  lest  the  Ladies  complain  of  their  ab¬ 
sence.  Apart  from  this  they  were  forbidden  to  leave  their 
parishes  without  necessity,  even  for  the  purpose  of  hearing 
a  sermon,  gaining  indulgences,  assisting  at  processions,  and 
the  like.41 

Their  relations  towards  the  parish  priests  were  to  be 
very  respectful  but  at  the  same  time  very  reserved.  They 
were  instructed  neither  to  nurse  them  in  their  illnesses  nor 
to  furnish  them  with  remedies;  likewise  not  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  sacristan,  such  as  washing  the  altar  linens, 
attending  to  the  sanctuary  lamp,  and  the  like.  They  had 
been  sent  to  assist  the  poor  sick;  all  else  was  beyond  their 
sphere.  For  the  same  reason,  they  were  forbidden  to  nurse 
persons  of  prominence  as  well  as  their  children,  their  ser¬ 
vants,  and  domestics.42 

E.  The  Priests  of  the  Mission  and  the  Sick 

The  Priests  of  the  Mission  were  established  to  conduct 
missions  among  the  poor  people  of  the  country  districts,  but 
their  relations  with  the  sick  during  these  missions  make 
them  deserving  of  at  least  passing  mention  here. 

“To  visit  and  console  the  sick”  is  enumerated  by  Abelly 
among  the  ordinary  functions  of  a  mission.  And,  in  fact, 
during  the  whole  time  of  the  mission,  which  lasted  some- 

39  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  290-3,  No.  2,  Conseil  du  5  Juillet  1646. 

40  Reg.  Part.,  ch.  xviii.,  art.  14,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  628. 

41  Reg.  Part.,  ch.  xviii.,  art.  12,  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  627; 
Ibid.,  art.  15;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  606,  No.  51,  May  25,  1654. 

42  Abelly,  ii.,  452. 


184 


THE  CHARITIES 


times  from  two  to  three  weeks,  they  frequently  visited  the 
sick  and  poor,  alleviating  their  bodily  and  spiritual  needs 
to  the  best  of  their  ability.  Toward  the  end  of  the  mission 
several  sermons  were  usually  devoted  to  charity  towards 
the  poor,  and  the  mission  terminated  with  the  establishment 
of  a  confraternity  of  charity  for  the  care  of  the  poor  sick.43 

Still  we  find  that  St.  Vincent  instructed  the  priests  who 
labored  among  the  soldiers  to  devote  their  entire  time  to 
the  spiritual  works  of  mercy.  He  says :  “They  shall  leave 
the  corporal  assistance  of  these  [the  pest-stricken],  as  also 
the  other  sick,  to  those  whom  Providence  employs  in  these 
functions.”44  The  closing  words  of  this  quotation  give  the 
probable  reason  for  this  restriction ;  namely,  that  provisions 
were  already  made  for  the  care  of  the  sick. 

St.  Vincent  wished  further  that  the  missionaries  go  two 
and  two,  and  not  alone,  on  their  visits  to  the  sick.  He  had 
learned  from  the  experience  of  others  the  dangers  and  the 
suspicions  that  might  arise  from  lonely  visits.45 

St.  Vincent  was  once  asked  if  it  were  permissible  for 
a  missionary  who  knew  medicine  to  mix  remedies  and  give 
them  to  the  sick  on  the  missions.  After  considering  the  mat¬ 
ter  fully,  he  said  he  personally  could  see  no  objection  to  it, 
and,  he  adds,  “if  others  find  none,  you  will  do  well  to  permit 
M.  Deu  (the  missionary  in  question)  to  exercise  his  charity 
in  this  case,  provided  these  corporal  remedies  do  not  divert 
his  spiritual  functions  and  do  not  cost'  him  much  trouble 
and  expense.”46 

This  phase  of  St.  Vincent’s  work  is  especially  interesting 
in  as  far  as  it  shows  how  inseparably  united,  in  his  estima¬ 
tion,  were  the  corporal  and  spiritual  works  of  mercy.  We 
have  seen  how  the  confraternities,  organized  primarily  for 
the  bodily  relief  of  the  poor  and  sick,  also  provided  for  their 
spiritual  welfare.  Here  we  see  a  congregation  organized 
to  promote  the  spiritual  well-being  of  the  poor  peasantry 
devoting  part  of  its  time  to  their  material  good. 


43  Abelly,  ii.,  18,  2.1-2 ,  66,  245. 

44  Regulations  for  Missionaries  in  the  Army,  1636,  Abelly,  i.,  232. 

45  Lett.,  iii.,  148-9,  No.  1115,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Apr.  2,  1655. 

46  Lett.,  iii.,  530,  No.  1443,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Aug.  17,  1657; 
Ibid.,  702-3  No.  1573,  Dec.  21,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


185 


2.  Hospital  Nursing 

The  Daughters  of  Charity,  instituted  originally  to  assist 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  in  serving  the  poor  sick  in  their 
homes,  proved  so  successful  that  they  were  soon  in  great 
demand  throughout  France  for  the  care  of  the  sick  in  hos¬ 
pitals.  The  first  hospital  to  which  they  were  sent  by  St. 
Vincent  was  that  of  Angers.  We  shall  center  our  attention 
especially  on  St.  Vincent’s  relations  with  this  institution 
in  studying  his  hospital  methods. 

The  hospital  of  Angers  was  built  toward  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century  by  the  seneschal  Stephen  of  Marchay  with 
the  consent  of  Henry  II,  who  probably  also  royally  endowed 
it.  The  temporal  administration  was  confided  to  devoted 
laymen.  Stephen  was  their  head  and  director.  The  spir¬ 
itual  care  was  undertaken  by  the  parish  priest  of  Ronceray, 
within  whose  parish  the  hospital  was  situated.  As  the 
number  of  patients  increased,  the  services  of  the  parish 
priest  proved  inadequate,  and  Stephen  procured  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  four  secular  priests  with  pastoral  rights  within  the 
hospital.  The  sick  were  nursed  by  religious  brothers  and 
sisters,  at  first  as  seculars,  but  they  soon  adopted  the  rule  of 
St.  Augustine.  Lepers,  paralytics,  the  blind,  thieves  recently 
mutilated  or  marked  by  justice,  and  foundlings  were  ex¬ 
cluded.  Poor  women  were  admitted  for  the  period  of  con¬ 
finement. 

The  institution  rendered  satisfactory  service  in  the  main 
until  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  But  thereafter  abuses 
crept  in.  In  1548,  on  account  of  the  increasing  luxury  of 
the  priors,  the  great  number  of  the  poor  who  were  refused 
admission,  and  the  complaints  of  the  patients  badly  treated, 
the  matter  was  brought  before  the  parliament  and  the  hos¬ 
pital  was  placed  under  municipal  management.  The  faith¬ 
ful  of  the  district  remained  loyal  to  the  hospital  throughout 
and  supported  it  liberally,  but  abuses  continued.  Things  had 
come  to  such  a  pass  in  1639  that  the  city  officials  and  the 
administrators  of  the  hospital  had  recourse  to  the  king  and 
to  the  lords  of  his  council,  and  proposed  as  remedy  the 
return  to  conditions  as  established  by  the  founder. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  Daughters  of  Charity  were 


186 


THE  CHARITIES 


placed  in  charge  of  the  nursing.  Twenty  years  later,  in 
1660,  the  following  plan  was  definitely  put  into  effect:  The 
temporal  administration  was  committed  to  four  laymen 
named  by  the  city;  the  nursing  was  entrusted  to  the  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity;  and  the  spiritual  administration  was  given 
to  removable  secular  priests  approved  by  the  bishop.  The 
religious  men  still  living  could  continue  until  death  to  lodge 
at  the  hospital  at  its  expense.47 

St.  Vincent  and  Mile,  le  Gras  drew  up  the  constitution 
for  the  Daughters  of  this  hospital.  It  demands  as  a  pre¬ 
requisite  that  the  Daughters  have  the  liberty  to  live  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  rule,  which,  however,  obliges  them  to  quit  all 
when  the  service  of  the  sick  requires  it  Nor  can  the  admin¬ 
istrators  demand  of  them  to  change  their  dress  either  as 
to  form  or  color.  In  temporal  matters  and  in  all  that  con¬ 
cerns  the  service  of  the  sick  they  are  subject  to  the  admin¬ 
istrators,  with  the  restriction,  however,  that  the  adminis¬ 
trators  cannot  associate  with  them  any  woman  or  girl 
without  their  consent, 4S  nor  oblige  them  to  sit  up  with  the 
sick  outside  the  hospital.49  They  are  to  render  an  account  of 
their  services  and  administration  to  the  administrators  alone. 
The  administrators  are  asked  to  uphold  them  in  their  rela¬ 
tions  with  the  officers  and  the  servants  of  the  house  and  with 
the  poor  sick.  They  can  call  their  attention  to  their  fail¬ 
ings  “in  private,  never  aloud  nor  in  public/’  and  the 
Daughters  are  asked  to  correct  them  with  the  grace  of  God. 

The  Daughters  are  to  be  nourished  and  supported  by  the 
hospital  and  also  cared  for  by  it  when  sick;  they  are  to  be 
considered  as  children  of  the  house  and  not  as  hirelings. 
The  superior  general  of  Paris  can  recall  as  many  as  three 
of  them  and  send  as  many  others  in  their  places  at  the 


4‘  Statuts  d’Hotels-Dieu  et  de  Leproscries,  21-33;  Misermont,  Lc  premier 
kopital,  etc.,  9-54. 

48  In  the  interval  between  the  time  that  the  Daughters  were  given  charge 
and  the  drafting  of  this  constitution,  St.  Vincent  wrote  in  one  of  his  let¬ 
ters  :  “It  would  be  desirable  that  the  Daughters  were  alone  in  the  hospital; 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  the  presence  of  this  young  lady  is  a  cause  of  em¬ 
barrassment.  I  had  not  been  told  of  it ;  we  would  have  stipulated  dif¬ 
ferently  had  I  known  it.”  Lett.,  i.,  269,  No.  258,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Nov.  12. 
1639. 

49  H  his  latter  restriction  seems  to  imply  that  the  Daughters  nursed  the 
sick  in  their  homes  from  the  hospital;  otherwise  why  the  prohibition  to  sit 
up  with  them  ? 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


187 


expense  of  the  community  at  Paris.  Likewise,  the  admin¬ 
istrators  are  empowered  to  send  back  an  equal  number  at 
the  expense  of  the  hospital  and  procure  others  in  their  stead, 
if,  as  one  copy  of  the  constitution  reads,  they  be  found  unfit 
after  a  trial  of  a  year  or  two.  In  this  latter  case  the  admin¬ 
istrators  must  notify  the  superior  general  beforehand  that 
he  may  have  time  to  send  the  substitutes.50 

Here,  as  in  all  St.  Vincent’s  constitutions,  provision  is 
made  that  the  Daughters  “assist  the  poor  sick  .  .  .  corpo¬ 
rally  and  spiritually:  corporally  by  serving  them  and  ad¬ 
ministering  to  them  food  and  medicaments,  and  spiritually 
by  instructing  the  sick  in  the  things  necessary  for  salvation 
and  procuring  that  they  make  a  general  Confession  of  their 
entire  past  life,  in  order  that,  by  this  means,  those  who  will 
die  may  depart  this  life  well  prepared  and  those  who  will 
recover  may  make  the  resolution  never  again  to  offend  God.” 

The  admission  of  the  patients  to  the  institution  is  not 
in  the  hands  of  the  Daughters.  After  the  patients  are  duly 
admitted,  she  who  has  charge  of  putting  the  sick  to  bed, 
receives  them  with  the  thought  that  she  is  their  servant 
and  they  her  lords  and  masters.  She  washes  their  feet  in 
warm  water,  which  is  kept  in  the  little  kitchen,  changes  their 
shirt  and  gives  them  a  cap  if  there  are  any  at  the  hospital. 
She  then  puts  the  patient  to  bed  and  locks  up  his  clothes 
and  money,  if  he  has  any,  and  has  broth  given  to  him  at 
once.51 

The  care  given  to  the  patients  can  best  be  learned  from 
the  study  of  the  daily  routine  traced  out  by  St.  Vincent  for 
the  Daughters  of  Charity.  “At  six  o’clock  they  shall  repair 
to  the  hall  of  the  sick,  empty  .  .  .  the  basins,  make  the  beds 
of  the  sick,  [and]  give  them  their  medicines.”  At  seven 
o’clock  they  shall  give  breakfast.  For  the  most  sick  it  shall 
consist  of  “a  broth  or  of  a  fresh  egg,”  for  “the  others  of 
a  little  butter  or  cooked  apples.”  “Thereupon  they  shall 
assist  at  holy  Mass,  if  they  have  not  done  so  at  five  o’clock.”52 


50  Misermont,  pp.  78-9. 

51  Idem,  87.  The  Sisters  were  forbidden  to  accept  or  give  any  present 
while  the  patient  was  in  the  hospital.  Already  the  original  constitution  of 
Angers  drafted  during  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth  century  calls  the  poor 
“our  lords”  ( Statuts  d’Hotels-Dieu,  etc.,  24,  No.  8). 

52  The  constitution  prescribes  that  they  “arise  at  exactly  4  o’clock”  every 
morning. 


188 


THE  CHARITIES 


St.  Vincent  seems  to  fear  that  in  attending  Mass  they  may 
neglect  some  service  to  the  sick,  for  he  adds  immediately: 
“And  they  shall  take  great  care  to  have  the  broths  brought 
at  the  exact  hours  to  the  sick  who  have  taken  medicine.” 

Those  who  have  need  of  taking  something  to  eat  may 
do  so  now.  “Then  they  shall  return  to  the  sick”  and  devote 
some  time  to  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  patients,  instruct¬ 
ing  the  ignorant,  preparing  them  for  the  reception  of  the 

sacraments,  urging  them  to  a  life  of  piety,  and  assisting 

) 

the  dying.  Here  again  St.  Vincent  appears  to  warn  them 
not  to  become  so  absorbed  in  the  spiritual  good  of  their 
patients  as  to  forget  their  bodily  needs,  for  the  following 
article  of  the  constitution  reads :  “They  shall  have  great 
care  that  the  poor  sick  have  what  they  need,  their  repasts 
at  the  prescribed  hours,  drink  when  they  have  need  of  it, 
and  now  and  then  some  little  delicacies.” 

The  constitution  continues :  “At  ten  o’clock  they  shall 
all  go  to  the  infirmary  and  give  dinner  to  the  sick  and  serve 
them.”  The  superioress  shall  say  the  prayers  aloud  and  shall 
invite  the  sick  to  join  her,'  at  least  mentally.  If  the  menu 
depends  on  the  Sisters  and  the  order  already  established 
does  not  provide  otherwise,  the  meal  shall  consist  of  “a  broth, 
veal  and  mutton  with  a  little  beef  for  dinner,  and  roast  meat 
and  boiled  beef  for  supper.”  Special  provision  is  made  for 
those  whose  condition  does  not  allow  solid  meats.  They 
shall  be  given  “broths  and  fresh  eggs  alternately  every  three 
hours  so  that  they  have  four  broths  and  three  fresh  eggs 
per  day.” 

While  one  Sister  remains  with  the  sick,  the  others  take 
their  dinner  at  eleven  o’clock.  When  finished,  two  of  them 
relieve  her  who  has  been  on  watch  with  the  sick,  “and  they 
shall  try  to  recreate  the  sick.” 

If  there  be  no  confraternity  of  Ladies  of  Charity  to 
serve  the  collation  in  the  afternoon,  “the  Sisters  shall  repair 
to  the  infirmary  at  exactly  two  o’clock  in  order  to  give  some 
little  sweetmeats  to  the  said  poor  sick  .  .  .,  such  as  cooked 
apples  and  pears,  and,  if  the  gentlemen  (the  Fathers  of  the 
Poor)  agree,  some  preserves  and  sugared  toast.”  Those 
who  are  not  needed  to  stay  with  the  sick  shall  now  return 
each  to  her  own  work,  or,  if  there  be  nothing  urgent,  remain 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


189 


in  the  infirmary  and  render  the  patients  spiritual  aid  as  in 
the  morning. 

“At  four  o’clock  they  shall  give  the  medicines,  change  the 
sheets”  for  those  for  whom  it  is  necessary,  “adjust  a  little 
the  beds  of  the  sick”  without  making  them  rise.  “At  exactly 
five  o’clock  all  the  Sisters  shall  go  to  the  infirmary  to  give 
supper  to  the  sick  and  serve  them  as  at  dinner.”  One  of 
them  shall  remain  with  the  sick  while  the  others  take  their 
supper.  After  their  supper,  i.  e.,  about  6.30  o’clock,  they 
shall  return  to  the  infirmary  and  put  the  sick,  who  are  up 
and  around,  to  bed  before  seven  o’clock,  and  “shall  order 
that  there  be  some  wine  and  some  little  sweetmeats  to  relieve 
the  needs  of  the  most  sick.” 

At  7 :30  o’clock  night  prayers  are  held  in  the  infirmary. 
The  sick  who  are  able  join  in  the  prayers.  The  Sisters  shall 
retire  from  the  infirmary  at  eight  o’clock,  leaving  the  one 
whose  turn  it  is  to  remain  with  the  sick  for  the  night.  “She 
shall  pass  the  night  watching,”  assisting  the  most  sick  and 
aiding  the  dying,  and,  if  her  services  are  not  in  demand, 
“reading  and  sleeping  now  and  then  while  the  poor  are  rest¬ 
ing.”  She  is  relieved  as  soon  as  the  others  rise  in  the  morn¬ 
ing.  During  the  spiritual  exercises  of  the  community  the 
Sister  on  watch  is  asked  to  make  her  morning  meditation 
also,  unless  she  is  occupied  with  the  sick,  “in  which  case  she 
shall  know  that  the  service  she  renders  to  the  sick  is  a  con¬ 
tinual  prayer  before  God.”  At  six  o’clock  all  the  Sisters 
again  come  to  the  infirmary  and  the  programme,  as  here 
outlined,  is  repeated. 

St.  Vincent  is  aware  that  these  statutes  are  difficult  of 
execution  and  the  duties  they  impose  repulsive  to  unaided 
human  nature.  He  admonishes  the  Daughters,  therefore, 
to  “represent  to  themselves  the  happiness  of  their  state 
since  they  serve  our  Lord  in  the  person  of  these  poor” ;  and, 
he  adds,  “that  it  may  please  God  to  grant  them  the  grace 
to  accomplish  all  these  things,  they  shall  often  pray  Him  for 
it,  they  shall  go  to  Confession  and  receive  Communion  for 
this  intention  ;  they  shall  walk  in  the  presence  of  God,  [and] 
shall  choose  as  their  patrons  and  their  intercessors  before 
God,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  St.  Joseph,  St.  Louis,  St.  Genevieve 
and  St.  Margaret,  Queen  of  Scotland.” 


190 


THE  CHARITIES 


Finally,  that  the  Sisters  may  be  ever  mindful  of  their 
duties,  the  constitutions  are  to  be  read  at  the  common  meal 
of  the  community  every  Friday.53 

The  study  of  these  regulations  reveals  the  following 
salient  features.  The  Daughters  of  Charity,  while  being 
entirely  subject  to  their  own  superiors  in  matters  of  common 
life,  owed  strict  obedience  to  the  administrators  of  the  hos¬ 
pital  in  all  that  concerned  the  care  of  the  sick.  The  admin¬ 
istrators,  in  return,  were  charged  to  uphold  the  Daughters 
in  their  relations  with  the  servants  of  the  house  and  with 
the  sick.  All  the  Daughters  were  obliged  to  personal  serv¬ 
ice,  performing  every  duty,  even  the  most  menial,  that  the 
care  of  the  sick  necessitated.  At  least  one  nurse  was  at  the 
service  of  the  sick  at  all  times,  and 'all  of  them  were  occu¬ 
pied  in  the  infirmary  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  They 
were  instructed  to  administer  not  only  to  the  bodily  wants 
but  also,  as  far  as  possible,  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  their 
patients.  And  as  regards  the  former,  they  gave  not  only 
what  was  necessary,  as  varied  food  and  medicines  to  suit  the 
needs  of  each,  but  also  what  tended  to  cheer  and  encourage — 
“some  little  delicacies,”  as  the  rule  expresses  it.54 

3.  The  Insane 

The  biographies  and  conferences  of  Vincent  de  Paul  have 
preserved  merely  a  general  account  of  his  labors  in  behalf 
of  the  insane ;  but  even  these  generalities  contain  some  points 
of  practical  interest  which  well  may  find  a  place  here.  They 
are,  however,  rather  expressive  of  his  attitude  toward  this 
class  of  unfortunates  than  illustrative  of  his  methods  in 
their  treatment.55 


53  Misermont,  8o-88;  Lett.,  i.,  No.  286,  303-10. 

54  The  rules  of  St.  Vincent,  in  as  far  as  they  affect  the  care  of  the  sick, 
differ  only  in  detail  from  the  original  constitution  of  the  hospital  drafted 
at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  (cf.  Statuts  d’Hdtels-Dieu,  etc., 
24-5).  St.  Vincent  was  well  pleased  with  the  success  of  the  Daughters’ 
work  at  Angers.  A  visit  there  in  1649  gave  him,  as  he  expressed  it,  the 
greatest  consolation  he  had  experienced  in  a  long  time.  He  found  only  one 
little  fault  to  correct,  and  that  concerned  the  interior  life  of  the  Sisters. 
Lett.,  ii.,  160;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  72. 

55  No  constructive  provision  was  being  made  for  the  feeble-minded  and 
insane  at  this  period.  If  they  became  violent  and  dangerous  to  public  safety 
they  were  imprisoned  as  common  criminals.  Cf.,  v.g.,  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la 
Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  p.  5. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


191 


A.  Saint-Lazare  and  the  Insane 

In  taking  possession  of  Saint-Lazare  in  1632,  St.  Vincent 
took  over  also  the  care  of  several  insane  who  had  been  com¬ 
mitted  by  their  relatives  to  the  former  prior.  He  immedi¬ 
ately  conceived  a  great  attachment  for  them,  serving  them 
in  person  and  having  them  served  with  the  greatest  charity 
and  consideration.  And  when  a  short  time  later  an  opposing 
religious  community  endeavored  to  evict  him  from  Saint- 
Lazare,  his  great  anxiety  was  not  the  fear  of  losing  his  spa¬ 
cious  house  with  its  wide  domains,  but,  as  he  himself  ac¬ 
knowledged  afterwards,  the  thought  “of  not  seeing  these 
poor  people  any  more,  and  of  being  obliged  to  give  up  their 
care  and  service.”  For  the  remainder  of  his  life,  a  space  of 
twenty-eight  years,  St.  Vincent  continued  the  work,  “re¬ 
ceiving  into  this  house  these  poor  insane  whom  all  repulsed 
and  none  wished  to  care  for,  regarding  them  as  sick  members 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  as  such  rendering  them  every  service  and 
every  assistance,  corporal  and  spiritual,  of  which  they  were 
capable.” 

St.  Vincent  once  had  occasion  to  refute  the  objection 
that  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission  had  enough  other 
employments  without  receiving  the  insane  at  Saint-Lazare. 
“Our  rule,”  he  said,  “in  this  regard  is  our  Savior,  Who  wished 
to  be  surrounded  with  lunatics,  .  .  .  and  insane.  .  .  .  From 
all  sides  they  were  brought  to  Him  that  He  might  deliver 
and  cure  them,  which  He  did  with  great  kindness. 
Why,  then,  blame  and  find  fault  with  us  for  trying  to 
imitate  Him  in  a  thing  which  He  has  testified  to  be  so 
pleasing  to  Him?” 

He  knew  that  the  care  of  these  was  a  trying  and  ungrate¬ 
ful  task.  He  admonished  the  brethren,  therefore,  to  seek 
strength  from  Christ,  Who  took  upon  Himself  our  infirmi¬ 
ties  “in  order  to  sanctify  all  the  afflictions  to  which  we  are 
subject  and  in  order  to  be  the  exemplar  and  the  prototype 
of  all  the  states  and  conditions  of  men.”  He  cited,  too,  the 
example  of  the  Popes  who  during  the  early  persecutions  of 
the  Church  were  condemned  by  the  pagan  emperors  “to 
guard  the  lions,  the  leopards  and  similar  other  beasts.” 
“But,”  he  continued,  “the  men  of  whose  external  needs  you 


192 


THE  CHARITIES 


have  charge  are  not  beasts ;  still  they  are  in  a  sense  worse 
than  animals  by  their  misconduct  and  debaucheries.”56 

The  brethren,  according  to  St.  Vincent,  were  to  derive 
a  practical  advantage  from  their  contact  with  these  unfor¬ 
tunates.  As  the  Popes,  referred  to  above,  “learned  from 
their  own  experience,”  he  said,  “to  have  compassion  on  the 
humiliations  and  adversities  of  their  spiritual  children,” 
so,  too,  “let  us  praise  God,  sirs  and  my  brethren,  and  thank 
Him  that  He  employs  us  in  the  care  of  these  poor  peo¬ 
ple  .  .  . ;  for  by  serving  them  we  see  and  learn  by  personal 
contact  how  great  and  diversified  are  human  miseries;  and 
by  this  knowledge  we  shall  be  better  fitted  to  labor  profit¬ 
ably  in  behalf  of  our  neighbor ;  we  shall  acquit  ourselves  of 
our  functions  with  so  much  greater  fidelity  as  we  know  by 
our  experience  what  it  means  to  suffer.” 

It  was  once  brought  to  St.  Vincent’s  attention  that  the 
insane  and  the  wayward  at  Saint-Lazare  were  at  times  given 
“portions  of  very  distasteful  and  very  badly  prepared  foods, 
even  meat  or  wine  left  over  from  the  preceding  evening.” 
He  inveighed  against  the  abuse,  calling  it  an  injustice  both 
to  the  inmates,  whose  condition  prevented  them  from  de- 
manding  other  treatment,  and  to  their  relatives,  who  paid 
for  their  stay  in  the  house.  He  gave  instructions  that  in  the 
future  they  receive  the  same  food  as  the  members  of  the 
community,  adding  that  those  for  whom  a  greater  pension 
was  paid  should  be  given  “something  more  than  to  those 
who  pay  less.”57 

B.  The  Daughters  of  Charity  and  the  Insane 

The  account  given  of  the  efforts  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  among  the  insane  is  more  scanty  still.  They  were 
given  the  care  of  the  Hospital  of  the  Petites  Maisons  at  the 
incessant  urging  of  the  officers  of  the  Grand  Bureau  of  the 
Poor.58  Here  there  were  a  large  number  of  poor  insane  of 

56  Abelly,  i.,  152-4;  Idem,  ii.,  396-9.  The  closing  clause  of  this  statement 
refers  especially  to  the  wayward  boys  who  were  also  kept  at  Saint-Lazare 
and  of  whom  he  was  speaking  in  connection  with  the  insane. 

57  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  188-9.  No.  61,  Repetition 
d'Oraison  du  16  Mars  1656. 

58  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  242,  No.  13,  Sept.  29,  1655.  The  Grand 
Bureau  des  Pauvres  had  been  established  by  a  royal  edict  of  1544.  Cf.,  v.g., 
Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  pp.  252  sqq. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


193 


both  sexes.  The  Daughters  cared  for  their  “nourishment, 
maintenance,  and  cleanliness”;  they  served  them  “both  in 
health  arid  sickness,  treating  them  with  great  kindness  and 
charity.”  According  to  the  testimony  of  the  administrators 
of  the  institution,  they  proved  very  successful.  They  “cur¬ 
tailed  many  abuses  that  were  offensive  to  God,  ruinous  to 
the  goods  of  the  house,  and  detrimental  to  these  poor  insane. 
In  consequence  one  has  been  very  edified  and  satisfied  with 
their  conduct.”59 

Also  here  St.  Vincent  emphasizes  the  disposition  with 
which  the  Daughters  should  approach  their  work.  “It  is  a 
great  favor  for  those  who  are  employed  there,”  he  says  to 
them,  “to  have  so  beautiful  a  means  of  rendering  service  to 
God  and  to  our  Lord,  His  Son.  You  know,  my  Daughters,” 
he  continues,  “that  our  Lord  has  wished  to  experience  in  His 
person  all  the  imaginable  miseries  .  .  .,  in  order  to  show 
you  that  you  can  serve  Him  in  all  the  poor  afflicted.  And 
because  He  has  wished  to  enter  into  this  state  in  order  to 
sanctify  it,  you  must  know  that  He  is  in  these  poor  weak¬ 
lings  deprived  of  reason  as  in  all  other  poor.”60  “Ah!  my 
Sisters,”  he  says  on  another  occasion,  “I  tell  you  again,  never 
has  there  been  a  company  which  God  honors  more  than 
yours.  Is  there  any  that  has  [care  of ]  the  poor  insane?  You 
will  not  find  any;  and  still  you  have  this  good  fortune.”61 

59  Abelly,  ii.,  453*  4°- 

60  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  98-9.  No.  62,  Oct.  18,  1655. 

61  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  242,  No.  13,  Sept.  29,  1655. 


' 


V 


\ 


~ 


»  » 


i 


' 


CHAPTER  II 


Child  Welfare  Work 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  manifested  keen  interest  in  the 
handicapped  children  and  expended  much  time  and  energy 
in  laying  the  spiritual  and  material  foundations  upon  which 
they  could  build  their  future  spiritual  and  material  well¬ 
being.  We  can  distinguish  four  distinct  lines  along  which 
he  directed  his  efforts;  namely,  the  care  of  the  orphans,  the 
care  of  the  foundlings,  primary  schools,  and  industrial  train¬ 
ing.  We  shall,  however,  discuss  only  the  latter  three  phases 
since  the  principles  and  methods  involved  in  the  care  of  the 
orphans,  are  touched  upon  in  their  different  aspects  in  the 
discussion  of  the  other  three. 

1.  The  Foundlings 

The  exposing  of  children,  though  universally  practised, 
was  in  principle  considered  a  civil  crime  and  punishable  as 
such.  The  court  awards  generally  made  a  distinction 
between  abandoning  a  child  in  a  church,  a  public  place, 
before  the  door  of  a  religious  house  or  other  institution,  and 
exposing  it  in  an  isolated  place.  The  penalties  inflicted 
varied  with  the  degree  of  guilt  from  a  mere  apology  to 
whipping,  imprisonment,  and  banishment.1 

Custom,  which  in  the  course  of  time  had  become  law, 
had  in  sonie  parts  of  France  combined  with  the  feudal  rights 
of  the  lords  the  duty  of  caring  for  the  foundlings  exposed 
on  their  domains.  The  same  custom,  however,  dispensed 
these  lords  from  all  further  obligations  from  the  moment 
they  founded  an  asylum  for  the  purpose  and  assured  its 
future  maintenance.2 


1  Lallemand,  Histoire  des  enfants  abandonncs  et  delaisses,  Paris,  1885, 
p.  108.  At  the  instigation  of  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  chapter  of  Paris  an 
award  of  Parliament  empowered  the  person  in  charge  of  the  foundlings  to 
arrest,  if  detected,  those  who  exposed  children.  Ibid.,  133,  2. 

2  Ibid.,  no,  129,  n.  4. 


195 


196 


THE  CHARITIES 


In  other  parts  of  France  different  prescribed  methods 
for  caring  for  the  foundlings  were  in  vogue.  Thus  in 
Provence  they  were  cared  for  by  the  existing  hospitals  to 
which  the  inhabitants  were,  in  consequence,  obliged  to  con¬ 
tribute  support.  In  Brittany  and  other  northern  provinces 
each  district,  or  parish,  cared  for  its  foundlings  directly 
through  its  officers.3 

During  the  early  Middle  Ages  charitable  institutions  in 
general  were  closed  to  foundlings.  Fear  that  the  number 
of  inmates  would  otherwise  become  excessive  in  proportion 
to  the  revenue  was  the  reason  commonly  alleged.  This 
exclusiveness,  was  gradually  broken  down  in  consequence 
of  the  constant  demands  made  upon  the  institutions,  or  in 
virtue  of  agreements  entered  upon  with  the  lords  or  the 
founders.4 

A  notable  exception  to  this  exclusiveness  was  made  by 
Guy  of  Montpellier  and  the  institutions  opened  by  him  and 
his  order.  About  1160  he  founded  the  Hospital  Order  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  express  purpose  of  caring,  among 
others,  for  the  foundlings.  In  the  fourteenth  century  more 
than  a  hundred  institutions  under  the  direction  of  his 
Brothers  had  been  opened  in  different  cities  of  France.5 


3  Tt  was  evidently  to  the  interest  of  these  municipalities  to  ascertain,  if 
possible,  the  origin  of  the  foundlings  in  order  thereby  to  evade  the  incum¬ 
bent  expenses.  An  investigation,  therefore,  preceded  every  other  adminis¬ 
trative  act.  It  was  made  by  proclamation  and  street  crying,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  child  was  carried  through  the  streets  and  crossroads.  Re¬ 
wards  were  offered  to  the  inhabitants  for  revealing  the  guilty  parents. 
When  the  investigation  had  proven  futile  and  the  city  saw  itself  constrained 
to  provide  for  the  foundling,  the  first  care  of  the  officers  was  to  have  it 
baptized  and  then  to  confide  it  to  a  salaried  nurse  generally  living  in  the 
country.  The  city  was  moreover  responsible  for  all  the  expenses  of  clothing, 
medicine,  etc.,  and  frequently  offered  its  ward  opportunities  of  attending 
school  and  learning  a  trade.  Ibid.,  114-20. 

4  Ibid.,  120-4. 

5  The  vows  of  the  Brothers  embodied  the  words  :  “Negotia  curabo  ad 
honorem  Dei  ad  victum,  vestitum,  sustentationem  pauperum  infirmorum, 
peregrinorum  et  infantium  expositorum.”  It  will  be  of  interest  to  refer 
briefly  to  the  regulations  of  the  hospital  at  Dijon,  founded  in  1204,  as  being 
fairly  typical  of  the  methods  he  employed.  Concerning  the  admission  of 
foundlings,  the  regulations  specify  that  the  three  religious  women  in  charge 
of  the  nursing  department  “must  endeavor  gently  to  ascertain’’  whence  the 
foundlings  are  brought  and  by  whom.  “If  they  ascertain  anything  on  this 
point  (keeping  it  secret  from  all  others),  they  must  make  it  known  pri¬ 
vately  to  the  supervisors,  that  these  may  take  them  to  their  mothers  if  they 
have  means  of  support,  or  oblige  them  to  come  and  to  nurse  them  if  they 
are  poor,  and  agree  with  those  who  exposed  them  for  the  indemnity  of  the 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


197 


Paris,  however,  did  not  keep  pace  with  the  provinces  in 
the  care  of  its  foundlings.  During  the  fifteenth  and  six¬ 
teenth  centuries  the  deans,  canons  and  chapter  of  Notre- 
Dame  occupied  themselves  more  or  less  directly  with  their 
care  in  virtue  of  letters  patent,  issued  by  Charles  VII  in 
1445,  confirmatory  of  the  foundation  of  the  Confraternity 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  1552  an  award  of  the  Parliament 
imposed  on  the  lords  the  obligation  to  contribute  to  the  main¬ 
tenance  and  education  of  the  foundlings  of  Paris  and  its 
suburbs.  This  award  was  no  innovation.  It  was  merely 
the  application  of  the  time-honored  principle  referred  to 
above.  Still  the  lords  endeavored,  though  in  vain,  to  evade 
it  under  the  plea  that  the  care  of  the  foundlings  had  been 
committed  to  the  chapter  of  Notre-Dame.  With  the  increase 
of  institutions  and  their  revenues  the  lords  renewed  their 
attempt,  but  a  compromise  was  effected  by  which  the  institu¬ 
tions  agreed  to  take  the  children  while  the  lords  subscribed 
~  for  their  support. 

In  1570  the  Parliament,  desiring  to  make  its  award  of 
1552  more  efficacious,  ordered  that  the  ecclesiastics  and  the 
lords  concerned  “assemble  on  days,  in  places,  and  at  hours 
to  be  determined  and  assigned  by  the  said  Archbishop  of 
Paris  in  order  to  confer  and  to  draft  memoranda  and 
articles  of  police  which  might  seem  good  to  them  and  ought 
to  be  kept  and  observed  for  the  nurture,  government  and 
administration  of  the  said  foundlings.”  In  consequence, 
three  widows  were  named  to  have  “superintendence  over  the 
nurture  and  maintenance  of  the  said  foundlings,”  while  a 
man  was  appointed  to  receive  the  contributions  and 
another  to  continue  “the  custody  and  nurture  of  the  said 
foundlings.”6 

hospital.  .  .  .  The  names  of  all  the  children,  together  with  the  place,  day, 
hour,  month,  and  year  when  they  have  been  found  or  sent  and  baptized,  and 
their  probable  ages,”  are  to  be  carefully  recorded  in  a  special  register,  and 
“if  any  note  or  mark  is  found  on  them”  it  is  likewise  to  be  recorded.  Before 
the  nurses  are  employed  they  are  to  be  examined  “by  the  surgeons  who  will 
be  in  service.”  When  the  foundlings  have  attained  the  age  of  six  or  seven 
years,  they  are  to  be  transferred  to  another  department  of  the  institution 
and  placed  under  the  care  of  an  ecclesiastic.  {Ibid.,  124-9).  We  see,  there¬ 
fore,  that  already,  at  this  comparatively  early  date,  the  care  of  the  foun¬ 
dlings  was  fairly  well  systematized. 

6  Ibid.,  134.  For  the  care  of  the  foundlings  at  this  period  cf.  also,  z'.g., 
Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iii.,  135-51  ;  Ibid.,  iv.,  part  II.,  69-102;  Gerando, 

ii.,  143-8. 


198 


THE  CHARITIES 


All  this  goes  to  show  that  the  city  officials  were  at  this 
time  becoming  really  and  effectually  interested  in  the 
foundlings  of  Paris,  but  the  interest  waned  during  the  tur¬ 
moils  of  the  Religious  Wars  and  the  wise  provisions  of  the 
Parliament  had  all  but  come  to  naught  long  before  the  middle 
of  the  following  century. 

A  widow  and  two  servants  had  succeeded  the  personnel 
appointed  after  the  investigations  of  1570.  The  foundlings 
were  many  and  the  revenues  meagre.  The  servants  were 
wont  to  give  the  little  creatures  laudanum  pills  and  other 
narcotics  to  hush  their  cries.  Four  or  five  were  entrusted 
to  one  nurse.  Some  were  nursed  by  diseased  women,  from 
whom  they  often  imbibed  contagion  and  death.  Others  were 
given  to  women  to  whose  interest  it  was  to  pass  as  mothers. 
Others  were  sold,  at  times  for  the  paltry  sum  of  eight  sous 
to  beggars  who  would  maim  them  in  order  to  excite  the 
compassion  of  the  people.  Others  were  mercilessly  put  to 
death  to  serve  the  diabolical  purposes  of  magic  or  to  supply 
bloody  baths  which  a  mania  for  prolonging  life  had  cruelly 
invented. 

In  consequence  of  this  inhuman  treatment,  the  bringing 
of  infants  to  la  Couclie,  as  the  asylum  had  come  to  be  gen¬ 
erally  known,  was  virtually  a  death  sentence  to  the  vast 
majority.  St.  Vincent  is  quoted  as  having  even  made  the 
statement  at  least  on  two  occasions  that  for  the  space  of 
fifty  years  not  one  had  been  known  to  survive.7  To  aggra¬ 
vate  the  evil  many  of  them  died  without  having  received 
Baptism.  Though  it  was  at  all  times  prescribed  to  admin¬ 
ister  this  sacrament  conditionally  unless  it  was  certain  the 
foundling  had  already  received  it,  the  widow  in  charge  of 
la  Couclie  acknowledged  she  had  totally  neglected  it.8 

Such  was  the  unhappy  lot  of  the  foundlings  at  Paris 


7  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char .,  ii.,  658;  Abelly,  ii.,  471 ;  Lett,  et  Confer, 
de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  ( Suppl. ),  206;  Coste,  162.  I  have  failed  to  find  this 
statement  corroborated  in  other  writings  relating  to  this  period.  The 
closest  approach  to  it  appears  in  Lallemand  (Hist,  des  enfants  ahand.,  135). 
He  says  almost  all  died. 

8  The  above  description  of  the  condition  of  the  foundlings  at  this  time 
has  not  been  overdrawn.  The  facts  are  stated  by  St.  Vincent,  all  his  biog¬ 
raphers,  Royal  Letters  Patent  of  July,  1642,  and  by  other  reliable  authorities. 
Cf.  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  658;  Abelly,  i.,  207-8;  Collet,  176; 
Coste,  19-20;  Gerando,  149;  Lallemand,  Hist,  des  enfants  ahand.,  135. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


199 


when  St.  Vincent  first  extended  his  charity  to  them  in  1637.9 
As  in  all  his  other  charitable  works,  he  did  not  undertake 
the  care  of  the  foundlings  as  a  constituent  part  of  a  pre¬ 
conceived  programme  of  social  relief.  He  was  led  into  it, 
under  God,  by  an  accidental  occurrence.  While  returning 
to  Paris  one  evening  he  detected  a  beggar  in  the  act  of 
mutilating  an  infant.  He  rescued  it  and  brought  it  to  la 
Couche.  Here  he  learned  the  deplorable  state  of  affairs 
and  immediately  resolved  to  effect  a  betterment.  He  enlisted 
the  sympathy  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity.  They  were  also 
urged  by  the  ecclesiastics  of  Notre-Dame,10  who,  as  we  saw 
above,  had  an  interest  in  the  work.  They  accordingly  visited 
la  Couche  for  the  purpose  of  formulating  a  plan  of  relief. 
They  saw,  on  the  one  hand,  the  crying  need  of  a  radical 
reform,  but  on  the  other,  taxed  as  they  were  with  the  other 
charities,  they  were  also  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  caring 
for  all  the  infants. 

This  predicament  necessitated  a  delay  of  some  months 
before  the  adoption  of  a  definite  plan.  A  main  point  at 
issue  was  whether  the  work  should  be  continued  at  la  Couche 
with  the  necessary  reforms  or  whether  this  scene  of 
past  abuses  be  abandoned  entirely  and  new  quarters 
procured.  Some  of  the  Ladies  favored  the  former 
course,  while  St.  Vincent  was  firm  in  advocating 
the  latter.* 11 

In  the  meantime  St.  Vincent’s  favorite  method  of  experi¬ 
menting  on  a  small  scale  was  being  followed.  In  a  letter  to 


9  St.  Vincent  had  taken  interest  in  similar  work  at  an  earlier  date.  To 
what  extent  is  unknown.  I  have  been  able  to  find  but  one  reference  to  it; 
viz.,  in  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent  to  Mile,  le  Gras,  Nov.  i,  1635.  He  writes: 
"Mme.  the  Duchess  of  Aiguillon  .  .  .  will  speak  to  the  procurator  general 
to  relieve  you  of  the  rescued  children.”  Lett.,  i.,  118,  No.  112. 

10  Abelly,  ii.,  471 ;  Confer,  aux  Filles  dc  la  Char.,  ii.,  657;  Lett,  et  Confer, 
de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi.),  20 6;  Coste,  162. 

11  “Mile.  Hardi,”  we  read  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Mile,  le  Gras,  “is  con¬ 
stantly  urging  me  to  assemble  the  Ladies  who  have  given  their  word  to  con¬ 
tribute  to  it.  If  I  do  not  do  it,  I  shall  grieve  her  sorely;  if  I  do  it,  it  is 
against  my  better  judgment.  I  doubt  if  it  succeeds  in  the  present  state  of 
things,  for  she  intends  that  these  Ladies  go  to  the  house  of  the  foundlings 
and  that  all  be  done  there  within,  and  according  to,  the  order  which  is 
established  there ;  and  my  idea  is  that  it  would  be  better  to  abandon  the 
property  of  this  established  house  than  to  submit  to  the  rendering  of  so 
many  accounts  and  clearing  of  so  many  difficulties,  and  to  found  a  new 
establishment  and  leave  this  one  as  it  is,  at  least,  for  some  time.  What  do 
you  think  about  it?”  Lett.,  i.,  168,  No.  165;  Coste,  21. 


200 


THE  CHARITIES 


Mile,  le  Gras,  dated  Jan.  1,  1638, 12  Vincent  writes:  “One 
was  of  the  opinion  at  the  last  meeting  [of  the  Ladies  of 
Charity]  that  you  be  asked  to  make  a  trial  with  the  found¬ 
lings — if  there  will  be  a  way  of  feeding  them  with  cow’s 
milk  and  of  taking  two  or  three  for  this  purpose.”  This 
experimenting  continued  at  least  till  the  middle  of  the  fol¬ 
lowing  month,  and  St.  Vincent  would  fain  have  prolonged 
it,  but  the  Ladies  were  becoming  impatient  and  urged 
decisive  action.  In  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent  written  to  Mile, 
le  Gras  and  dated  Febr.  15,  1638,  we  read :  “Concerning  the 
foundlings,  one  urges  me  in  a  manner  which  is  unthinkable 
on  the  part  of  M.  Hardi;  he  holds  me  culpable  for  all  the 
delays.  .  .  .  What  inconvenience  that  you  should  have  a 
goat  bought  and  that  you  should  continue  to  make  a  further 
experiment?”13 

These  last  two  citations  suggest  the  question  of  artificial 
feeding.  This  method  was  far  from  being  in  common  use 
at  the  time,  and  St.  Vincent’s  experiment  seems  to  have  been 
premature.  In  1679  the  dean  of  the  faculty  of  medicine  at 
Paris  and  other  physicians,  surgeons,  and  midwives  ex¬ 
pressed  their  opposition  to  it.  And  even  throughout  the 
eighteenth  century  attempts  at  artificial  feeding  proved 
futile  and  often  fatal.  St.  Vincent,  too,  discontinued  it 
apparently  because  it  proved  unsuccessful.14 

Artificial  nursing  had  been  resorted  to  in  an  attempt  to 
solve  the  vexing  problem  of  wet  nurses.  The  difficulty  of 
procuring  them  had  always  constituted  one  of  the  most 
serious  problems  encountered  by  la  Couche.  St.  Vincent, 
too,  was  confronted  with  it.13  And  as  late  as  the  end  of  the 
century,  when  the  care  of  the  foundlings  was  well  under 
state  regulation,  it  was  admitted  on  various  occasions  that 

12  Lett.,  i.,  123,  No.  1 18.  In  this  collection  the  letter  in  question  bears  the 
date  of  Jan.  1,  1636.  This  is  evidently  incorrect.  Cf.  Coste,  21,  n.  1. 

13  Lett.,  i.,  192,  No.  187. 

14  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  93 ;  Abelly,  i.,  209.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  in  a  letter  of  uncertain  date  but  probably  written  at  this 
time,  St.  Vincent  is  astonished  “at  the  death  of  so  many  of  these  little  crea¬ 
tures”  and  sees  the  need  of  serious  advice  on  the  question  (Lett.,  i.,  185,  No. 
183,  To  Mile,  le  Gras).  He  does  not  mention,  it  is  true,  what  he  thinks 
might  be  the  cause  of  these  deaths,  but  they  were  undoubtedly  a  potent 
factor  in  prompting  him  to  give  the  foundlings  to  wet  nurses  as  soon  as 
such  could  be  had. 

15  Cf.,  v.g.,  Lett.,  i.,  242,  No.  233,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Mar.  9,  1639;  Lett.,  ii., 
213,  No.  689,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Jan.,  1650. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


201 


as  many  as  one  third  of  the  children  died  in  default  of 
promptness  in  providing  nurses.10 

Finally,  St.  Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity  decided 
to  rent  a  house  near  the  gate  of  Saint-Victor.  They  felt 
financially  capable  of  caring  for  only  twelve  of  the  found¬ 
lings.  These  were  selected  by  lot  “in  order  to  honor/’  as 
Abelly  says,17  “divine  providence,  not  knowing  His  designs 
regarding  these  little  creatures.”  At  the  unanimous  advice 
of  the  Ladies,  the  direction  of  the  new  institution  was  put 
into  the  hands  of  Mile,  le  Gras.  Mme.  Pelletier,  one  of  the 
first  Daughters  of  Charity,  was  placed  in  immediate  charge. 
It  was  St.  Vincent’s  idea  that  she  be  responsible  to  the 
Ladies  of  Charity  “for  the  things  purely  temporal,”  while 
“in  spiritual  matters,  as  in  the  direction  of  the  Daughters 
[of  Charity,  whom  St.  Vincent  had  sent  thither] ,  the  nurses, 
[and]  the  little  rescued  children,”  she  be  dependent  on  Mile, 
le  Gras,  to  whom  she  should  render  an  account  of  the  state 
of  affairs  “from  time  to  time,  as  every  week,  or,  at  least, 
every  fortnight.”18 

Other  foundlings  were  transferred  from  la  Couche  from 
time  to  time  as  the  means  of  the  Ladies  permitted.  Finally 
after  two  years,  during  which,  as  St.  Vincent  later  expressed 
it,  successful  trials  had  been  made,  several  meetings  held, 
many  prayers  said,  and  prudent  persons  consulted,  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  thought  the  time  opportune  to  attempt  the  care  of  all 
the  foundlings.  Accordingly,  on  Jan.  12,  1640,  he  convoked 
a  general  meeting  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  which  was  re¬ 
markably  well  attended.19 

16  Lallemand,  Hist,  dcs  cnfants  aband.,  170.  Agencies  for  the  employ¬ 
ment  of  wet  nurses  had  long  been  in  existence  at  Paris.  As  early  as  1350 
we  find  official  documents  regulating  their  functions  (Ibid.,  223-4).  Their 
establishment  had  been  made  necessary,  not  only  on  account  of  the  orphans 
and  the  foundlings,  but  also,  and  principally,  because  of  the  almost  preva¬ 
lent  practice,  in  spite  of  ecclesiastical  and  medical  opposition,  of  placing  all 
infants  with  nurses  (Cf.  Franklin.  V Enfant,  25-47).  Most  of  the  nurses 
were  from  the  country.  But  the  salaries,  particularly  those  paid  by  the 
institutions,  were  never  attractive.  Moreover,  prospective  nurses  were  often 
hindered  from  making  the  journey  to  Paris,  to  receive  their  charges,  by  the 
great  distances  and  the  bad  roads,  especially  in  winter,  and  by  work  in  the 
fields  during  summer  (Lallemand,  Hist,  des  enfants  aband.,  170). 

17  Vol.  i.,  209. 

18  Lett.,  i.,  167,  No.  164,  To  Mile,  le  Gras;  Ibid.,  191,  No.  186;  Ibid.,  231. 
No.  224. 

19  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  657;  Coste,  153;  Lett.,  i.,  280-1,  No. 
2 66,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Jan.  17,  1640. 


202 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  rough  sketch  of  St.  Vincent’s  discourse  to  the  Ladies 
on  this  occasion  has  been  preserved.  He  first  stressed  the 
motives  for  undertaking  the  work.  The  praises  of  these 
little  ones,  he  adduces  as  the  first  motive,  are  pleasing  to 
God  (Ps.  8,  3).  Moreover,  they  are  in  extreme  need  and 
to  neglect  to  come  to  their  assistance  is  to  be  responsible  for 
their  death ;  the  public,  it  is  true,  has  care  of  them,  but  for 
lack  of  funds  they  are  sold  to  the  first  comer  and  allowed  to 
die  of  hunger  or  some  other  misfortune.  St.  Vincent  then 
appeals  to  their  honor,  asking  them  to  deliver  Paris  of  an 
opprobrium  justly  detested  in  the  Turks,  viz.,  the  selling 
of  human  beings  as  beasts,  and  of  purifying  the  Church  of 
a  cruelty  not  unlike  Herod’s  massacre  of  the  innocents. 

There  were  also  a  number  of  objections  to  forestall.  In 
the  first  place,  the  care  of  the  foundlings  belonged  to  the 
lords  and  not  to  private  individuals,  especially  women.  This 
objection  is  refuted  in  a  few  words  :  “But  what  will  one  do? 
And  at  Paris,  who  will  undertake  it?  In  the  meantime 
these  poor  little  creatures  are  dying!”  It  might  be  objected 
in  the  second  place,  that  God  has  cursed  “these  little 
creatures  because  of  their  birth  and  that  this  is  perhaps 
the  reason  why  He  does  not  permit  that  one  put  order”  in 
the  work.  To  this  St.  Vincent  gives  a  twofold  answer: 
“1.  It  is  because  man  was  cursed  by  God  on  account  of 
Adam’s  sin  that  our  Lord  became  man  and  died,  and  to’take 
care  of  these  little  creatures,  though  cursed  by  God,  is  to 
do  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ;  2.  perhaps  among  them  will 
be  found  some  who  will  be  great  personages  and  great 
saints.  Remus  and  Romulus  were  foundlings,”  as  were  also 
Melchisedech  and  Moses. 

The  most  weighty  objection,  however,  was  the  question 
of  the  necessary  finances.  If  550  livres,  apart  from  the  house 
rent,  are  required  annually  for  the  care  of  six  or  seven 
foundlings,  says  St.  Vincent,  what  enormous  sums  will  be 
necessary  for  the  two  or  three  hundred  who  are  yearly 
exposed  in  Paris  and  the  suburbs !  “The  remedy  is,”  he  con¬ 
cludes  after  some  discussion,  “to  undertake  what  one  will  be 
able  to  do.”20 


20  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  218-20;  Coste,  123-6. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


203 


The  Ladies  yielded  to  Vincent’s  appealing  request  and 
offered  to  take  over  the  care  of  all  the  foundlings.  But,  fol¬ 
lowing  the  advice  of  Vincent,  they  did  so  only  by  way  of 
trial  “without  the  design  of  binding  themselves  by  any  kind 
of  obligation,”  since  at  that  time  they  had  the  assurance 
of  only  a  very  inadequate  annual  income.21 

It  now  became  a  question  of  whether  a  special  section 
of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  be  organized  for  the  care  of  the 
.  foundlings  or  whether  the  functions  of  those  already  organ¬ 
ized  for  the  Hotel-Dieu  be  extended  to  the  children.  The 
point  was  discussed  at  the  same  meeting  of  Jan.  12,  1640. 
St.  Vincent  first  proposed  the  reasons  favorable  to  a  single 
organization.  Most  of  the  Ladies,  he  says,  who  are  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  foundlings,  are  already  members  of  the  organi¬ 
zation  for  the  Hotel-Dieu.  Moreover,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find  a  sufficient  number  of  Ladies  with  the  necessary 
qualities  and  leisure  to  direct  two  organizations.  Finally, 
jealousy  might  arise  between  the  two  organizations. 

He  then  adduces  reasons  for  the  double  organization  in 
the  form  of  objections  that  might  be  raised  against  the  sin¬ 
gle  plan.  There  may  be  some,  he  says,  who  can  contribute 
to,  and  visit,  the  Hotel-Dieu,  but  who  cannot  perform  the 
same  services  in  behalf  of  the  foundlings.  To  this  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  answers  that  all  shall  enjoy  full  liberty  to  contribute 
at  will  to  either  of  the  good  works  or  to  both;  the  same 
liberty  shall  be  enjoyed  as  regards  the  visits  at  least  for 
the  time  being.  It  might  be  further  objected  that  the  offi¬ 
cers  of  the  one  organization  will  be  overburdened  in  caring 
for  the  needs  of  both  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  the  foundlings. 
St.  Vincent  admits  that  this  will  be  the  case  in  the  begin¬ 
ning,  but  when  the  work  is  once  established,  he  adds,  there 
will  be  no  difficulty.22 

It  is  evident  from  St.  Vincent’s  method  of  arguing  the 
case  that  he  favored  the  single  organization.  The  outcome 
is  not  stated  in  the  sketch  from  which  we  have  been  citing, 
but  later  developments  indicate  that  the  single  plan  was 
adopted.  Thus  the  final  constitution  of  the  Ladies  of  Char¬ 
ity  drafted  by  St.  Vincent  in  1660  calls  for  only  one  staff 


21  Lett.,  i.,  281,  No.  266,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Jan.  17,  1640;  Abelly,  i.,  209-10. 

22  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  221-2;  Coste,  127-9. 


204 


THE  CHARITIES 


of  officers,  with  the  sole  provision  in  favor  of  the  foundlings, 
as  St.  Vincent  had  suggested  in  the  meeting  of  Jan.  12, 
1640,  that  the  second  assistant  act  as  treasurer  of  their  funds 
while  the  first  assistant  is  treasurer  of  the  general  funds 
of  the  confraternity.  The  same  constitution  exhorts  all 
the  members  to  contribute  indiscriminately  to  the  various 
charities  of  the  confraternity.23 

Another  month  and  a  half  elapsed  before  the  project 
was  put  in  execution.  The  house  at  the  gate  of  Saint-Victor 
was  too  small  and  the  Ladies  had  failed  to  obtain  an  adequate 
institution.  Hence  a  number  of  the  foundlings  were  trans¬ 
ferred  to  the  mother  house  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity, 
while  twenty  others  were  placed  with  nurses.  Those  whom 
the  governess  of  la  Couche  had  placed  in  the  city  were  taken 
back.  The  number  steadily  increased.  For  the  first  months, 
each  day  brought  one  or  more  new  charges.  All  of  these, 
however,  were  not  foundlings  in  the  strict  sense.  Already 
in  the  meeting  of  Jan.  12,  1640,  means  were  discussed  “to 
hinder  the  poor  people  from  sending  their  children  hither 
though  they  be  not  of  the  origin  of  foundlings.”  What 
remedies  were  adopted  is  not  known,  but  the  evil  continued. 
As  late  as  1668  and  1671  the  Ladies  of  Charity  had  occasion 
to  refuse  entrance  to  children  born  in  the  Hotel-Dieu  and 
in  houses  of  detention.24 

At  the  meeting  of  April  20,  1640,  St.  Vincent  took  occa¬ 
sion  to  encourage  the  Ladies  to  persevere  in  their  generous 
resolution.  The  sketch  of  his  discourse  has  come  down  to 
us.25  He  insists  again  on  the  extreme  needs  of  the  found¬ 
lings  and  on  the  fact  that  divine  providence  may  raise  up 
great  and  holy  men  from  among  them.  As  an  additional 
motive  he  says  “they  are  in  a  special  manner  the  image  of 
Jesus  Christ.”  He  proceeds  then  to  draw  a  manifold  resem¬ 
blance.  His  words  are  of  interest,  revealing  as  they  do 
his  high  regard  for  the  foundling.  “Our  Savior,”  he  says, 
“was  born  without  a  carnal  father,  and  these  poor  children 
are  disowned  by  father  and  mother” ;  our  Lord  suffered  in 


23  Coste,  103,  104,  128. 

24  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  des  enfants  aband.,  156-7;  Coste,  127,  130-1 ;  Lett, 
et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  221. 

25  Coste,  129-36. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


205 


the  womb  of  His  mother  on  the  journey  to  Bethlehem,  and 
these  poor  children  suffer  during  the  period  of  gestation 
through  the  carlessness  or  malice  of  their  mothers ;  as 
soon  as  our  Lord  was  born,  He  was  persecuted  unto  death 
by  His  enemy  Herod,  and  these  are  abandoned  to  death 
by  their  parents;  our  Lord  fled  into  Egypt  and  found  an 
asylum  there,  and  these  poor  creatures  find  their  safety 
among  strangers  who  are  nothing  to  them ;  “our  Lord  suffers 
poverty,  misery,  calumny  and  persecution  because  of  the 
sins  of  His  children,  and  these  because  of  the  sins  of  their 
mother’’;  “our  Lord  took  upon  Himself  malediction  and  sin 
for  His  children,  and  these  are  cursed  by  God  for  their 
father”;  our  Lord  suffers  innocently,  and  these  suffer  for 
the  sin  of  which  they  are  not  culpable.  There  is,  however, 
he  says,  “this  difference,  that  the  first  is  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  others  [the  children]  of  men ;  the  first  of  grace,  and 
these  of  sin.” 

He  adds  further  motives.  The  midwives  of  Egypt,  he 
says,  were  blessed  by  God  for  sparing  the  lives  of  the  male 
children  of  His  people  in  defiance  of  the  king’s  command; 
what  blessings  are  not  in  store  for  the  Ladies  who  not  only 
do  not  kill  these  poor  children,  but  giye  and  conserve  their 
lives !  The  daughter  of  Pharaoh,  an  idolatress,  adopted  Moses, 
found  in  the  bulrushes;  “and  you,  who  are  Christians, 
madames,  ought  with  greater  reason  to  adopt  these  as  your 
own.”  Finally,  he  says,  “God  has  given  you  the  grace  to 
respond  to  the  inspiration  which  He  has  given  you  to  under¬ 
take  this  good  work,  and  in  consequence,  you  are  obliged 
to  make  use  of  it  under  penalty  of  His  transferring”  it  to 
others. 

As  usual  on  such  occasions,  St.  Vincent  touched  upon 
an  objection  that  might  be  raised.  It  was  the  vital  question 
of  finances.  He  adduced  a  twofold  answer  in  refutation ;  the 
one,  to  trust  in  God  and  do  what  one  can ;  the  other,  to  dis¬ 
continue  the  work  if  it  should  become  intolerable,  since  it 
was  undertaken  only  by  way  of  trial.  He  suggests  that  a 
collection  be  taken  up  for  the  purpose  and  concludes  by 
urging  them  to  emulate  the  few  zealous  Ladies  who  are 
financing  the  relief  work  of  Lorraine  [Cf.  pp.  277-84]  at  a 
great  personal  sacrifice. 


206 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  expenses  increased  steadily.  Within  four  years 
they  had  risen  to  40,000  livres  annually.  In  1642  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  appealed  to  Louis  XIII  through  the  queen  mother,  and 
obtained  from  him  by  letters  patent  of  July  30,  1642,  a  grant 
of  4,000  livres  of  annual  rent,  3,000  of  which  were  directly 
for  the  foundlings  while  the  remaining  thousand  were  for 
the  support  of  the  Sisters.26  A  further  royal  grant  of  8,000 
livres  was  made  in  virtue  of  letters  patent  issued  in  June, 
1644. 27  The  donations  and  the  collections  of  the  Ladies 
supplied  the  balance.28 

Again  in  1647  the  Ladies  were  on  the  point  of  abandon¬ 
ing  the  work,  as  they  were  at  liberty  to  do  whenever  they 
felt  the  burden  unsupportable.  For,  it  must  be  remembered, 
they  had  undertaken  it  only  by  way  of  trial  and  their  only 
obligation  was  one  of  simple  charity.  St.  Vincent  accord¬ 
ingly  convoked  another  general  meeting.  He  followed  his 
favorite  method  of  expounding  the  reasons  for  the  contin¬ 
uance  of  the  work  and  refuting  the  possible  objections.  He 
reported  the  good  results  already  obtained :  five  or  six  hun¬ 
dred  children  rescued  from  certain  death  and  receiving  a 
Christian  training,  and  the  larger  ones  placed,  or  about  to 
be  placed,  in  apprenticeships.  He  concluded  with  the  words : 
“Compassion  and  charity  have  prompted  you  to  adopt  these 
little  creatures  as  your  children ;  you  have  been  their  moth¬ 
ers  according  to  grace,  since  their  mothers  according  to 
nature  have  abandoned  them.  See  now  if  you,  too,  wish  to 
abandon  them.  Cease  to  be  their  mothers,  and  you  become 


26  Some  eminent  authorities  state  that  this  appeal  was  made  to  the  king, 
not  as  ruler  of  the  realm,  but  as  a  lord  obliged  to  contribute  to  the  main¬ 
tenance  of  the  foundlings  in  virtue  of  the  award  of  1552.  Cf.  Lallemand, 
Hist,  des  enfants  aband.,  135. 

27  This  grant  was  not  prompted  by  any  motives  of  charity.  To  cite  from 
the  royal  edict  of  June,  1670,  which  gave  legal  existence  to  the  foundling 
institution  of  St.  Vincent  twenty  years  after  his  death :  “Considering  how 
far  their  [the  foundlings’]  conservation  was  advantageous,  since  some 
could  become  soldiers  and  serve  in  our  armies,  others  laborers  or  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  the  colonies  which  we  establish  in  behalf  of  the  commerce  of  our 
kingdom,  we  gave  them  also  by  our  letters  patent  of  the  month  of  June, 
1644,  eight  thousand  livres  to  be  taken  each  year  on  our  five  large 
farms.  .  .  .”  Cf.  Gerando,  De  la  Bienfaisance  Publique,  Paris,  1839,  ii.,  151. 

28  Coste,  26.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  also  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of 
the  Court  [see  pp.  261-2]  participated  in  this  work.  To  assist  the  foundlings  is 
enumerated  among  their  principal  charges  (Coste,  98).  Moreover,  we  can 
justly  suppose  that  generous  persons  were  found  who  nursed  and  reared 
foundlings  free  of  charge.  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  90. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


207 


at  present  their  judges;  their  life  and  their  lot  are  in  your 
hands ;  I  go  to  take  the  votes  and  the  suffrages ;  it  is  time  to 
pronounce  their  sentence  and  to  know  if  you  are  no  longer 
willing  to  have  mercy  on  them.  They  will  live  if  you  con¬ 
tinue  to  take  charitable  care  of  them ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
will  infallibly  die  and  perish  if  you  abandon  them ;  expe¬ 
rience  does  not  permit  us  to  doubt  it.”  “These  Ladies,”  says 
Abelly,  “were  so  deeply  moved  that  all  unanimously  con¬ 
cluded  that  this  enterprise  of  charity  must  be  upheld  at 
any  cost.”29 

In  consequence  of  the  resolution  here  taken,  the  Ladies 
obtained  from  the  queen  the  chateau  of  Bicetre.30  This 
building,  spacious  but  unused  for  some  time,  had  become  the 
rendezvous  of  malefactors  and  persons  of  bad  life.  The 
Ladies  had  coveted  it  for  the  past  four  years,  but  had  re¬ 
pressed  their  desires  probably  in  deference  to  the  objections 
of  Mile,  le  Gras.  She  was  at  all  times  opposed  to  it  because 
of  its  distance  from  Paris,  the  difficulties  of  the  way,  its 
insanitary  location,  and  the  ill  repute  of  its  occupants.  And 
even  after  the  Ladies  had  taken  possession  of  it  and  arranged 
some  of  the  details  of  organization,  she  wrote  thus  to  St. 
Vincent:  “Experience  will  show  us  that  it  was  not  without 
reason  that  I  was  apprehensive  of  the  lodgings  of  Bicetre. 
These  Ladies  have  the  intention  of  demanding  the  impossible 
of  our  Sisters.  They  choose  as  a  lodging  the  little  rooms 
where  the  air  will  be  directly  corrupted  and  leave  the  large 
ones ;  but  our  poor  Sisters  do  not  venture  to  say  anything. 
They  [the  Ladies]  do  not  wish  that  Mass  be  said  there,  but 
that  our  Sisters  go  to  attend  it  at  Gentilly.  And  what  will 
the  children  do  meanwhile?  And  who  will  do  the  work?” 
She  concludes  with  the  sad  remark :  “I  fear  we  must  aban¬ 
don  the  service  of  these  poor  little  children.”31 

Another  unpleasant  event  occurred  a  few  days  later. 
M.  Leroy,  who  held  from  the  chapter  of  Paris  the  powers 
of  director  and  administrator  of  the  foundling  hospital,  came 
to  complain  that  he  had  not  been  notified  of  the  transfer  of 
the  foundlings  to  Bicetre  and  that  his  rights  were  not  un- 

29  Abelly,  i.,  210-1 ;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  200-1  ;  Coste.  26-7. 

30  Built  under  Charles  V  and  restored  under  Louis  XIII  to  serve  as  a 
hospital  for  invalid  soldiers. 

31  Cf.  Coste,  28. 


208 


THE  CHARITIES 


derstood.  He  claimed  the  prerogative  of  giving  instructions 
to  the  children  whenever  he  so  desired,  of  appointing  a 
priest  for  the  institution  and  of  having  full  spiritual  care. 
And  as  Mile,  le  Gras  remarked,  “he  was  more  jealous  of  this 
than  of  a  bishopric  or  a  cardinalate.”  His  complaints  caused 
great  surprise.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Ladies  had  always 
made  provision  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  foundlings, 
convinced  that  the  chapter  allowed  them  a  free  hand  in  the 
matter.  The  Baptisms,  Easter  Confessions,  instructions 
for  first  Communion,  Masses  and  funerals  had  been  regu¬ 
lated  by  them,  and  no  one  had  ever  gainsaid  them. 

At  this  period  of  the  history  of  the  foundlings,  the  active 
participation  of  Mile,  le  Gras  is  felt  more  and  more.  Being 
often  at  Bicetre,  where  she  rendered  an  account  of  the 
smallest  details  of  organization,  she  was  in  a  position  to 
know  its  needs  better  than  anyone  else.  In  a  letter  of  Jan. 
22,  1648,  she  states  that  fifty-two  foundlings  have  already 
died  at  Bicetre  and  another  “fifteen  or  sixteen  are  but  little 
better.”  “I  hope,”  she  adds,  “that  when  everything  will  be 
arranged  according  to  the  desire  of  these  good  Ladies  they 
will  not  go  so  quickly.”  She  also  laments  the  insufficiency 
of  the  alms.  People  see  the  spacious  institution,  she  says, 
and  know  that  the  governesses  are  ladies  of  the  highest 
social  standing,  and  get,  in  consequence,  the  impression  that 
the  foundlings  are  amply  provided  for,  whereas  in  reality 
the  bare  necessaries  of  life  must  be  purchased  on  loans.32  . 

To  make  matters  worse,  Mile,  le  Gras  had  wished  to  make 
some  little  profit  by  selling  the  wine  made  from  the  vineyards 
of  Bicetre,  but  the  tavern  keepers  of  Paris  protested  and 
insulted  and  maltreated  the  Sisters.  The  police  were  forced 
to  intervene  and  would  have  severely  punished  the  culprits 
had  it  not  been  for  the  charitable  intercession  of  St.  Vincent. 

The  destitution  increased  to  such  a  point  in  1649  that 
even  the  necessary  bread  was  not  had  for  the  foundlings. 
Paris  at  this  time  was  in  the  excitement  of  the  First  Fronde 
[Cf.  p.  310].  St.  Vincent  had  left  Paris  and  did  not 
return  until  the  month  of  June  of  that  year  [pp.  311-3]  ;  a 
number  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  and  among  them  some  of 


32  Idem,  30. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


209 


the  most  prominent,  had  likewise  quitted  the  capital.  St. 
Vincent  wrote  to  M.  Lambert,  the  acting  superior  of  Saint- 
Lazare,  to  send  wheat  to  Bicetre,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
Mme.  de  Lamoignon  asking  her  to  obtain  from  the  city  offi¬ 
cials  through  the  mediation  of  her  son,  an  escort  for  its 
safe  transport.  He  likewise  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Ladies  of 
Charity  urging  them  to  hold  a  meeting  and  advise  means  of 
coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  foundlings.33 

A  further  danger  developed  from  the  Fronde.  The  en¬ 
virons  of  Paris,  overrun  by  the  undisciplined  soldiery,  offered 
no  security.  The  Sisters  lived  in  constant  fear.  Mile,  le 
Gras  instructed  the  Sister  Superior  to  keep  all  the  “Sisters 
together,  and  have  great  care  of  the  young  girls,”  whom 
she  ought  always  to  keep  before  her  eyes  “locked  up  in  the 
school.”34 

Finally,  the  institution  had  to  be  evacuated.  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  apparently  was  informed  of  this  step  only  after  it  had 
been  taken.  He  writes  from  Saint-Meen,  April  5,  1649 : 
“Since  this  place  [Bicetre]  is  uninhabitable,  it  is  to  be  de¬ 
sired  that  it  please  the  Parliament  or  the  city  to  give  another ; 
but  probably  they  will  not  do  so.”  And  again,  a  few  days 
later :  “I  have  been  informed  by  letter  that  the  foundlings 
have  been  withdrawn  from  Bicetre;  I  am  very  anxious  to 
know  whither  one  has  transferred  them.”35 

It  appears  from  these  remarks  that  St.  Vincent  was 
under  the  impression  that  Bicetre  had  already  been  aban¬ 
doned  permanently.  Such  was  not  the  case.  The  found¬ 
lings  were  returned  thither  sometime  between  May  14  and 
November  of  that  year.30 

One  of  St.  Vincent’s  first  solicitudes  after  his  return 
to  Paris  in  June,  1649,  was  to  assure  the  continuance  of  the 
work  for  the  foundlings.  It  was  a  difficult  task.  The  time 
was  inopportune  to  ask  new  sacrifices  of  the  Ladies  and,  as 
Mile,  le  Gras  wrote  at  this  time,  “the  nurses  commence  to 
menace  us  very  much  and  to  bring  back  the  infants,  and 
the  debts  are  multiplying  to  such  a  point  that  there  is  no 

33  Lett.,  ii.,  152-4,  Feb.  u,  1649. 

34  Coste,  31. 

35  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Suppl.),  73,  No.  3049,  To  Vile, 
le  Gras;  Lett.,  ii.,  158,  Xo.  645,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  April  9,  1649. 

36  Cf.  Coste,  32. 


210 


THE  CHARITIES 


hope  of  paying  them”  (Coste,  32).  The  situation  became 
more  hopeless  as  the  year  advanced.  The  needs  of  the  found¬ 
lings  increased,  the  debts  accumulated,  and  Mile,  le  Gras 
sought  aid  from  all  sources  in  vain.  She  became  discouraged 
and  in  November  proposed  not  to  receive  any  more  children, 
and  even  spoke  of  abandoning  the  work  entirely  as  an  im¬ 
possible  undertaking.37 

At  this  crisis  St.  Vincent  called  a  meeting  of  the  Ladies. 
A  sketch  of  the  discourse  he  held  on  this  occasion  has  been 
preserved.  “I  shall  tell  you,”  he  says  in  his  opening  words, 
“that  they  [the  foundlings]  are  in  great  need  and  that  there 
remains  only  sufficient  to  feed  them  for  six  more  weeks,  and 
that  it  is  necessary  to  advise  means  of  providing  for  their 
wants.”  As  motives  he  stressed,  as  he  had  done  before,  the 
extreme  necessity  of  the  foundlings  and  the  relationship 
of  mothers  which  they  held  by  divine  providence  towards 
these  children.  He  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  conse¬ 
quence  they  are  obliged  in  conscience  to  come  to  their  assist¬ 
ance.  “If  you  abandon  them,”  he  continues,  “1.  what  will 
God  say  Who  has  called  you  to  this?  2.  What  will  the  king 
and  the  magistrates  say  who,  by  verified  letters  patent,  at¬ 
tribute  to  you  the  care  of  these  poor  infants?  3.  What  will 
the  public  say  who  have  made  acclamations  of  benediction 
seeing  the  care  you  take  of  them?  4.  What  will  these  little 
creatures  say?  ‘Alas!  our  dear  mothers,  you  have  aban¬ 
doned  us !  That  our  own  mothers  have  abandoned  us,  well, 
they  were  wicked ;  but  that  you  should  do  so,  who  are  good, 
is  equivalent  to  saying  that  God  has  abandoned  us  and  that 
there  is  no  God  V  5.  Finally,  what  will  you  say  at  the  hour 
of  death,  when  God  will  demand  of  you  why  you  have  aban¬ 
doned  these  little  creatures?”38 

In  answer  to  the  objection  that  “the  necessity  of  the 
times  .  .  .  impoverishes  everyone  so  that  one  can  scarcely 
live  from  hand  to  mouth,”  he  assures  the  Ladies  that  their 
charity  will  never  bring  them  to  poverty,  because,  using  the 
words  of  Holy  Writ,  qui  miseretur  pauperis  nunquam  indi- 


37  Idem,  32-3. 

38  This  citation  is  also  o£  interest  in  as  far  as  it  strikingly  shows  how 
St.  Yincent'skillfully  blended  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  in  formu¬ 
lating  motives  of  action. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


211 


gebit  [He  who  shows  mercy  to  a  poor  man  will  never  suffer 
want.  Prov.  28,  27].  Moreover,  he  says,  there  are  a  hun¬ 
dred  of  you ;  if  each  one  gives  a  hundred  livres  it  will  more 
than  suffice.  But,  he  continues  interrogatively,  “I  have  no 
money?  Alas!  How  many  luxuries  has  one  at  home  which 
serve  no  purpose !” 

As  means,  St.  Vincent  suggests  that  the  Ladies  pray  to 
God  for  the  success  of  the  work,  receive  Communion  once 
for  the  same  intention,  speak  to  their  relatives  and  friends 
and  to  the  preachers  through  the  parish  priests,  and,  finally, 
resolve  whether  to  discontinue  the  work  or  to  make  an  effort 
for  another  year.39 

St.  Vincent  again  won  the  Ladies  to  his  cause.  The 
work  of  the  foundlings  was  continued.  But  Bicetre  was  dis¬ 
carded  on  account  of  the  insanitary  atmosphere,  and  the 
children  were  lodged  in  the  suburb  of  Saint-Laurence,  not 
far  from  Saint-Lazare  and  the  mother  house  of  the  Sisters, 
in  a  group  of  buildings  known  as  the  Treize  Maisons  (The 
Thirteen  Houses).  The  stormy  period  of  the  foundlings’ 
history  was  now  past.  The  silence  which  St.  Vincent  and 
Mile,  le  Gras  maintain  in  their  correspondence  on  this  point 
during  the  remaining  eleven  years  of  their  lives,  is  proof 
of  the  uninterrupted  success  of  the  work.  The  institution 
was  made  a  part  of  the  Hopital-General  [pp.  271-4]  by  a  royal 
edict  of  1670.  It  received  at  the  same  time  a  legal  status, 
being  accorded  the  rights  and  privileges  of  public  estab¬ 
lishments.40 

The  usual  number  of  children  exposed  each  year  in  Paris 
and  the  suburbs  was  at  this  time  between  three  and  four 
hundred.  St.  Vincent  said  on  this  point  in  a  meeting  of  the 
Ladies,  July  11,  1657  :  “One  has  observed  that  the  number  of 
those  who  are  exposed  each  year  is  almost  always  equal  and 
that  there  are  found  about  as  many  as  there  are  days  in  the 
year.  See,  if  you  please,  what  order  in  this  disorder.”41  In 
reality  the  records  show  a  slight  increase  during  the  twenty- 
two  years  that  St.  Vincent  was  interested  in  the  work.  From 
1640  to  1649,  3,053  were  admitted  to  the  foundling  asylum, 

39  Coste,  152-6;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  657-60. 

40  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  des  enfants  ahand.,  137-8;  Gerando,  ii.,  150. 

41  Lett,  et  Confer,  de  S.  Vine,  de  Paul  (Sup pi.),  206;  Coste,  162. 


212 


THE  CHARITIES 


while  between  the  years  1650  and  1659,  3,688  had  been 
fostered  by  the  institution.42 

The  exact  mortality  rate  of  the  children  under  St.  Vin¬ 
cent’s  care  is  not  known.  He  indicates,  however,  in  the 
meeting  of  the  Ladies  of  April  20, 1640,  that  he  expects  about 
one  third  to  succumb.  This  number  is  not  surprisingly  large 
if  we  consider  the  conditions  of  the  times.  Approximately 
the  same  percentage  obtained  during  the  rest  of  the  century 
and  throughout  the  following  century.43 

According  to  the  laws  in  vogue  at  the  time,  it  was  pri¬ 
marily  the  duty  of  the  police  of  a  given  district  to  pick  up 
a  foundling  and  to  bring  it  to  la  Couclie.  He  was  obliged 
to  make  a  written  statement  of  the  place  where  it  was  found, 
of  its  condition  when  found,  and  of  any  other  information 
he  might  have  acquired  concerning  the  child.  Only  sec¬ 
ondarily  did  this  duty  devolve  upon  others.44  St.  Vincent, 
too,  ordinarily  received  his  foundlings  through  these  official 
channels,  as  far  as  we  know. 

A  letter  written  by  him  May  2,  1657,  will  serve  to  give 
us  a  further  insight  into  the  current  legislation  touching 
the  question  of  foundlings,  while  at  the  same  time  revealing 
Vincent’s  general  attitude  towards  it  and  how  he  would  have 
evaded  its  hampering  provisions  in  his  charity  for  the  in¬ 
fants.45  It  will  also  throw  some  light  on  the  workings  of  a 
conference  of  charity.  A  child  had  been  exposed  at  Ville- 
preux,  near  Paris,  so  the  letter  states,  and  the  parish  priest 
and  the  husband  of  the  treasurer  of  the  confraternity  had 
come  to  St.  Vincent,  the  former  to  consult  on  a  plan  of  dispos¬ 
ing  of  the  case,  the  latter  to  complain  that  his  wife  had  been 
obliged  to  pay  for  the  maintenance  of  the  child.  “I  told  the 
parish  priest,”  continues  Vincent,  “that,  if  one  exposed  this 
child  in  this  city  and  would  send  it  to  la  Couche,  as  the  police 


42  The  number  rose  rapidly,  however,  during  the  remainder  of  the  cen¬ 
tury.  For  the  3'ears  1690  to  1699  it  reached  21,150.  These  numbers  do  not 
necessarily  indicate  a  proportional  increase  in  the  number  of  exposures 
made  at  Paris,  for  the  number  of  foundlings  brought  to  Paris  from  the 
other  parts  of  France  was  constantly  increasing.  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  des 
cnfants  aband.,  161. 

43  Cf.  Coste,  135,  204-5. 

44  Lallemand,  Hist,  dcs  enfanis  aband.,  133,  154-6. 

45  His  attitude  here  seems  to  be  at  variance  with  his  usual  full-hearted 
submission  to  the  laws  of  the  realm.  Cf.  pp.  59-60. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


213 


of  the  districts  are  accustomed  to  do  .  .  .,  we  would  take 
care  of  it,  but  that  it  is  forbidden  by  the  decisions  of  the 
court  for  those  who  are  charged  with  the  care  of  the  said 
infants  to  receive  them  without  the  orders  of  the  said  police 
and  that  we  make  it  a  matter  of  conscience  not  to  act  other¬ 
wise;  that,  if  in  concert  with  the  provost  he  [the  pastor] 
arranged  to  have  it  brought  to  his  city  and  exposed,  he  need 
not  be  uneasy  for  the  rest.  And  he  did  not  do  this ;  one  has 
placed  it  in  the  meantime  with  a  nurse  for  nine  francs  per 
month,  which  one  obliges  the  treasurer  of  the  confraternity 
to  pay ;  and  this  is  what  her  husband  has  come  to  complain  of. 
But  I  have  requested  the  parish  priest  to  make  a  little  jour¬ 
ney  hither  to  terminate  this  affair.  .  .  .  When  he  comes, 
we  shall  decide  the  manner  of  the  disposition,  which  will  be 
a  trifle  difficult  because  the  nurse  will  not  wish  to  give  up 
the  child  except  by  order  of  the  court,  nor  [will]  the  court 
of  Villepreux  [wish]  to  give  orders  that  it  be  brought  to 
Paris  and  exposed  there,  since,  according  to  the  ordinances, 
the  lords  are  obliged  to  maintain  the  foundlings,  and  if  this 
becomes  known  in  this  city  the  child  will  be  sent  back  to 
Villepreux  at  the  expense  of  the  lord,  if  the  father  is  not 
discovered  and  condemned  to  nourish  it.  .  .  .  The  only  rem¬ 
edy,  it  seems  to  me,  is  that  the  provost  give  verbal  command 
to  the  nurse  to  deliver  this  child  to  some  other  woman  whom 
he  himself  will  be  able  to  prevail  upon  to  bring  it  to  Paris 
and  to  expose  it  here.  This  cannot  be  done  without  danger 
of  being  discovered,  in  which  case  she  runs  the  risk  of  being 
imprisoned  and  condemned  to  whipping.”46 

The  foundling  asylum  under  the  direction  of  St.  Vincent 
served,  in  the  first  place,  the  purpose  of  a  receiving  station. 
The  foundlings  were  brought  thither  to  await  their  commit¬ 
ment  to  wet  nurses  from  the  country.  In  the  meantime 
they  fell  to  the  charge  of  the  wet  nurses  who,  in  accordance 
with  the  common  usage  of  well  regulated  institutions  of  the 
period,  were  kept  permanently  for  this  purpose  at  the  asy¬ 
lum.  These  were  not  volunteer  workers,  but  received  a 
monthly  salary.47 

As  quickly  as  nurses  from  the  country  could  be  procured, 


46  Lett.,  iii.,  456,  No.  1379,  To  Rev.  Pere  de  Gondi,  May  2,  1657. 

47  Lallemand,  Hist,  de-la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  89;  Abelly,  i.,  211. 


214 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  children  were  entrusted  to  them.  They,  too,  were  paid 
a  stipulated  salary.  But  as  early  as  April,  1640,  St.  Vincent 
refused  to  pay  them  unless  they  were  able  to  show  a  certifi¬ 
cate  of  the  parish  priest  testifying  that  their  charges  were 
still  alive.48  This  precaution  implies  the  existence  of  the 
abuse  of  exacting  payment  though  the  child  in  their  care 
had  died. 

St.  Vincent  provided  that  his  workers  keep  in  touch  with 
the  foundlings  under  their  care.  In  the  meeting  of  April 
20,  1640,  he  exhorted  the  Ladies  “to  visit  them  in  this  city 
[Paris]  two  and  two  each  day,  according  to  the  notice  which 
will  be  sent/’  and,  when  possible,  to  visit  also  those  in  the 
country.  He  informed  them  at  the  same  time  that  it  had 
been  proposed  “to  send  a  young  man  of  piety  from  time  to 
time  to  those  places  in  order  to  be  assured  of  the  condition 
of  these  infants. ”49  Abelly  informs  us  that  in  1649  a  Brother 
of  the  Congregation  spent  almost  six  weeks  in  visiting  the 
foundlings  that  had  been  placed  in  nursing  throughout  the 
villages.  The  Sisters  of  Charity,  too,  were  sent  on  these 
tours  of  inspection.50 

As  was  the  practice  of  similar  institutions  in  France,51 
the  foundlings  were  returned  to  the  asylum  after  the  lapse 
of  their  nursing  period.  Here  they  remained  under  the 
training  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  until  old  enough  to  be 
placed  in  apprenticeship  or  in  service.  Ten  or  twelve  Sisters 
were  ordinarily  employed  in  this  work.52  St.  Vincent  was 
careful  to  have  only  the  most  virtuous  appointed  to  it.  “If 
Mile,  le  Gras  had  angels,”  he  is  quoted  as  saying  in  a  con¬ 
ference  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  “it  would  be  necessary 
that  she  assign  them  to  the  service  of  these  innocents.”  The 
reasons  he  gives  are  the  plastic  nature  and  the  imitative 
tendencies  of  the  child.  “As  the  aunt  [thus  they  call  you],” 
he  says,  “so  the  children  will  be.  If  the  aunt  is  good,  they 
will  be  good :  if  she  is  bad,  they  will  be  bad,  because  they 

48  Coste,  13 1 ,  6°,  Plan  d’entretien,  April  20,  1640. 

49  Coste,  131 ;  Cf.  also  Idem,  120;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.)  ,227. 

50  Abelly,  iii.,  180;  Lett.,  i.,  527,  No.  457,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  May  25,  1646: 
Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  35,  No.  3015,  To  Mile,  le  Gras;  Ibid.,  36,  No.  3016, 
To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Sept.  20,  1642. 

51  Cf.  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  80. 

52  Cf.  Reglement  de  1660,  Coste,  106;  Abelly,  i.,  21 1;  Lett,  et  Confer. 
(Suppl.),  497. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


215 


will  easily  do  what  they  see  done  by  their  aunts ;  if  you  are 
angry,  they  will  become  peevish;  if  you  show  frivolity  in 
their  presence,  they  will  be  subject  to  frivolity;  if  you  mur¬ 
mur,  they  will  murmur  as  you  do ;  if  they  are  lost,  they  will 
blame  you  for  it ;  do  not  doubt  it,  since  you  will  be  the  cause 
of  it.”  He  later  had  occasion  to  say:  “Have  we  any  better 
Sisters  than  those  who,  for  the  love  of  God,  wish  to  remain 
in  this  house  in  order  to  serve  Him  in  the  person  of  these 
infants?  ...  I  do  not  see  elsewhere  any  better  Sisters  than 
these  .  .  ,”53 

St.  Vincent  was  occasioned  to  make  these  declarations, 
as  he  himself  says,  in  refutation  of  the  persistent  rumor 
among  the  Sisters  that  “when  a  Sister  was  unfit  for  a  parish 
or  for  some  other  place,  one  put  her  at  the  Enfants-Trouves 
as  in  a  prison.”  What  gave  rise  to  the  rumor,  or  what  kept 
it  afloat,  is  merely  a  matter  of  conjecture.  But  the  conclu¬ 
sion  lies  near  at  hand  that  the  foundling  asylum,  for  what¬ 
ever  reason,  was  not  considered  a  desirable  assignment  by 
the  Sisters. 

The  training  given  to  the  foundlings  after  their  return 
to  the  asylum  is  thus  described  by  St.  Vincent  in  a  report 
to  the  Ladies  of  Charity :  “In  learning  to  speak,  they  learn 
to  pray  to  God,  and  little  by  little  one  occupies  them  accord¬ 
ing  to  custom  and  to  the  capacity  of  each ;  one  watches  over 
them  in  order  to  regulate  them  in  their  little  ways  and  to 
correct  in  good  time  their  evil  inclinations.”  The  intellectual 
training  here  given  was  very  rudimentary,  and  especially  so 
for  the  girls,  since  it  was  not  thought  expedient  even  to 
teach  them  to  write.54 

In  conformity  with  his  principle  to  extend  his  charity 
more  particularly  to  the  most  abandoned,  St.  Vincent  applied 

53  Confer,  an. x  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  40-T,  No.  57,  Nov.  15,  1654;  Ibid., 
200-1,  No.  69.  Dec.  14,  1656. 

54  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  206,  Gen.  Assembly  of  July  11,  1657;  Coste. 
29-30;  Idem,  163;  cf.  also  Abelly,  i.,  21 1-2;  Idem,  ii.,  471.  This  latter  point, 
however,  cannot  be  urged  in  the  light  of  prevailing  conditions.  The 
Ursulines  of  the  time,  it  would  seem,  restricted  the  teaching  of  writing  to 
those  of  their  pupils  who  had  the  intention  of  entering  religious  life  ( Cf. 
Gerando,  ii.,  460).  In  France  it  long  continued  to  be  a  bone  of  contention 
whether  the  art  of  writing  was  not  a  masculine  prerogative  ;  the  corpora¬ 
tion  of  writing  masters  at  Paris,  strove  to  arrogate  to  themselves  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  teaching  it.  Cf.  Ravelet,  29-30;  also  d'Avenel, 
Paysans,  etc.,  114. 


216 


THE  CHARITIES 


himself  with  special  affection  to  the  foundlings.  He  took  a 
personal,  individual  interest  in  them.  In  his  letters  to  Mile, 
le  Gras  he  would  inquire  about  them.  “I  have  had  a  notice 
placed  in  the  sacristy  this  morning,”  he  writes  in  one  of  these 
letters,  “in  order  to  have  prayers  said  for  this  poor  child. 
I  beg  you  to  tell  me  how  she  is  this  morning ;  I  pray  to  our 
Lord  that  He  may  spare  her.”55 

He  looked  upon  the  care  of  them  as  an  honor  and  an 
obligation.  He  told  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  the  general 
meeting  of  April  6,  1647,  that  “God  is  the  author  of  this  good 
work  in  commanding  men  ...  to  take  care  of  the  poor  in¬ 
fants  abandoned  by  father  and  mother.”  Abelly  informs  us 
that  he  often  addressed  his  brethren  in  this  wTise :  “Is  it  not 
the  duty  of  fathers  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  their  children? 
And  since  God  has  substituted  us  in  the  place  of  those  who 
gave  them  birth  in  order  that  we  take  care  to  conserve  their 
lives  and  have  them  reared  and  instructed  in  the  things  of 
their  salvation,  let  us  be  well  on  our  guard  not  to  become 
lukewarm  in  an  enterprise  so  pleasing  to  Him.  For,  if  after 
their  unnatural  mothers  have  thus  exposed  and  abandoned 
them,  we  come  to  neglect  the  care  of  their  nourishment  and 
education,  what  will  become  of  them?  Can  we  consent  to 
see  them  all  perish,  as  formerly,  in  this  great  city  of  Paris?”56 

It  was  one  day  reported  to  St.  Vincent  that  one  of  the 
missionaries  had  blamed  the  care  of  the  foundlings  for  the 
poverty  suffered  at  Saint-Lazare,  for,  he  said,  the  alms  that 
had  formerly  come  to  Saint-Lazare  were  now  being  diverted 
by  the  benefactors  to  the  foundlings  whose  needs  appeared 
greater  and  more  urgent.  Vincent’s  reply  to  this  complaint 
is  wrell  wTorth  citing.  “May  God  pardon  him  this  weakness,” 
he  said,  “which  removes  him  far  from  the  sentiments  of  the 
Gospel.  Oh,  what  little  faith  to  believe  that,  for.  procuring 
the  welfare  of  children  poor  and  abandoned  as  these  are,  our 
Lord  is  less  bountiful  toward  us,  He  Who  promises  to  recom¬ 
pense  a  hundredfold  what  is  given  for  Him.  Seeing  that 
this  good  Savior  has  said  to  His  disciples :  Let  these  children 
come  to  me  (Matt.  19,  14),  can  we  reject  or  abandon  them 

55  Lett.,  i.,  398,  No.  349  (1642).  Cf.  also,  v.g.,  Ibid.,  243,  No.  234,  Mar., 
1639. 

56  Coste,  149;  Abelly,  iii.,  179. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


217 


when  they  come  to  us?  .  .  .  Did  they  not  occasion  Him  to 
give  us  a  rule  of  salvation,  since  He  orders  us  to  become  like 
unto  little  children  if  we  wish  to  have  entrance  to  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven?  (Matt.  18.3.)  But  to  have  charity  for  chil¬ 
dren  and  to  take  care  of  them  is,  in  a  way,  to  become  a  child ; 
and  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  foundlings  is  to  take  the  place 
of  their  fathers  and  their  mothers,  or  rather  that  of  God, 
Who  has  said  that,  if  the  mother  comes  to  forget  her- child, 
He  Himself  would  take  care  of  it  and  would  not  forget  it.  If 
our  Lord  were  still  living  among  men  on  earth  and  saw  the 
abandoned  children,  are  we  to  think  that  He,  too,  would  wish 
to  abandon  them?  It  would  without  doubt  be  doing  an  in¬ 
justice  to  His  infinite  goodness  to  entertain  such  a  thought.”07 
These  words  of  Vincent  de  Paul  portray  his  lofty  concept  of 
the  dignity  of  the  work  for  the  foundlings,  and  are  the 
expression  of  the  deep  conviction  that  prompted  him  to  labor 
indefatigably  for  their  welfare  even  in  the  face  of  appar¬ 
ently  insurmountable  obstacles. 

Many  of  the  European  laws,  at  this  time,  v.  g.,  those  of 
Spain,  Rome,  Naples,  and  Russia,  presupposed  the  legitimate 
birth  of  a  foundling  unless  the  contrary  were  proved.58  We 
find  no  expression  of  St.  Vincent’s  mind  on  this  point.  The 
nearest  approach  to  it  is  the  following  event  recorded  in 
one  of  his  conferences  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity.59  He  is 
emphasizing  the  purity  of  life  necessary  in  the  Sisters,  and 
relates  how  the  queen  of  Poland  had  mentioned  to  one  of 
them  that  the  foundlings,  when  grown  up,  could  be  admitted 
into  the  Company.  The  Sister  “makes  this  response  without 
much  reflection :  ‘Pardon  me,  madame,  our  Company  is  not 
composed  of  this  kind  of  persons,  for  only  virgins  are  re¬ 
ceived  amongst  us.’  ”  And  St.  Vincent  is  quoted  as  giving 
these  sentiments  the  stamp  of  his  full  approval  by  saying: 
“It  was  God  who  made  her  speak  in  this  manner  in  order 
that  you  might  understand  that  in  the  Company  there  must 
be  only  pure  and  chaste  girls.” 

St.  Vincent  was  very  well  pleased  with  the  results  of  his 


57  Abelly,  iii.,  180-1.  Cf.  also  Avis  ct  Confer,  aux  Membres  dc  lo 
Congreg.,  319. 

58  Cf.  Lallemand.  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv..  part  II.,  77-8. 

59  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  517,  No.  43,  Feb.  2,  1653. 


218 


THE  CHARITIES 


work.  He  thus  addressed  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  their 
general  meeting  of  July  11,  1657 :  “They  [the  foundlings] 
are  fortunate  to  have  fallen  into  your  hands  and  they  would 
be  miserable  in  those  of  their  parents  who  are  ordinarily 
people  poor  or  vicious.  One  need  but  see  their  daily  routine 
in  order  to  perceive  the  fruits  of  this  good  work  which  is  of 
such  importance  that  you  have  every  reason  in  the  world, 
mesdames,  to  thank  God  for  having  entrusted  it  to  you.”60 

Still,  as  Lallemand  correctly  remarks,  “charity  did  not 
await  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  to  busy  itself  with  these  unfortu¬ 
nate  creatures  cast  away  by  their  parents.”  “There  existed 
for  them  rights  to  assistance,”  says  Gerando,  “legal  rights, 
positive  rights,  which  other  indigents  did  not  enjoy.”61  Paris, 
it  is  true,  was  slow  in  making  provisions  for  its  foundlings, 
and  even  after  provisions  had  been  made,  it  allowed  deplor¬ 
able  abuses  to  render  them  inoperative.  But,  meanwhile,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  lords  were  obliged  in  virtue  of  their  feudal 
rights  and  duties  to  care  for  them,  and  in  fact,  often  ac¬ 
quitted  themselves  faithfully  of  this  duty  in  various  parts 
of  France  by  founding  or  subsidizing  institutions  for  their 
care.  The  parishes  or  municipalities  of  Flanders,  Artois, 
the  Dauphine,  Provence  and  Brittany  were  placing  them 
in  nursing,  supervising  their  care,  and  rearing  them.  And 
a  religious  order  already  from  the  twelfth  century  was 
obliged  by  vow  to  care  for  them. 

“Far  from  us  be  the  thought  of  wishing  to  dim  the 
grandeur  of  the  work  of  this  benefactor  of  mankind,”  we 
can,  therefore,  say  with  Lallemand,6-  “but  his  glory  is  bril¬ 
liant  enough  without  having  need  of  borrowed  rays.”  St. 
Vincent  has  merited  well  of  posterity  for  his  labors  in  behalf 
of  the  foundlings,  but  his  merit  consists,  not  in  inaugurating 
the  care  of  these  children,  nor  even  in  inventing  new  meth¬ 
ods,  but  in  introducing  the  charity  of  the  Gospel,  personal 
love,  and  religious  valuations  into  the  work  at  Paris,  where 
the  satisfying  of  a  legal  obligation  had  formerly  been  the 
principal,  or  only  motive.  The  immediate  result  of  his  activ¬ 
ities  was  seen  in  the  renewed  interest  taken  in  the  work. 


60  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Supfl.),  206-7;  Coste,  163. 

61  Lallemand,  Hist,  dcs  enfants  aband.,  129;  Gerando,  ii.,  148-9. 
02  Ibid.,  130. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


219 


The  impetus  given  by  him  carried  the  work  successfully 
through  the  stormy  period  of  the  Frondes  and  sustained  it 
until  the  foundling  asylum  became  a  part  of  the  Hopital 
General,  ten  years  after  his  death. 

2.  Schools 

Systematic  education  in  secular  knowledge  in  France 
dates  almost  from  the  Christianization  of  the  Gauls.  Begin¬ 
ning  with  the  Council  of  Vaison,  which  in  529  requests  the 
pastors  of  all  the  parishes  to  receive  young  men  into  their 
houses  and  educate  them  in  order  to  prepare  for  themselves 
worthy  successors,  the  ecclesiastical  councils  constantly 
insisted  on  the  establishment  of  elementary  schools  in  towns, 
villages,  and  hamlets,  to  which  all  children  had  access.  That 
the  children  of  the  poor  might  not  be  excluded  from  these 
advantages,  various  councils  forbade  the  teachers  to  demand 
fees  from  their  pupils.  They  were  to  teach  gratuitously, 
obtaining  their  livelihood  from  the  fruits  of  a  special  endow¬ 
ment,  or  from  the  revenues  of  the  bishop  or  the  chapter.  The 
girls  also  frequented  these  schools,  for,  as  early  as  889,  the 
Bishop  of  Soissons  had  occasion  to  give  orders  that  they  be 
kept  apart  from  the  boys.  At  the  instigation  of  the  Church, 
therefore,  and  under  her  supervision,  numerous  elementary 
schools  sprang  up  throughout  the  whole  of  France.  Paris, 
alone,  had  as  many  as  one  hundred  such  schools  already  in 
the  fifteenth  century. 

In  many  localities  the  school  attendance  was  very  satis¬ 
factory;  in  others  it  left  much  to  be  desired.  Compulsory' 
education,  in  the  present  sense  of  the  term,  was  not  in  vogue. 
But  there  were  not  wanting  zealous  bishops  and  pastors  who 
earnestly  exhorted  all  parents  to  send  their  children  to 
school.  The  state,  too,  was  beginning  to  see  the  necessity  of 
lending  her  influence  and  authority.  In  the  General  Estates 
of  Orleans,  held  in  1560,  we  find  the  nobility  advocating  a 
law  to  compel  the  country  people  to  send  their  children  to 
school  under  penalty  of  a  fine. 

During  the  Religious  Wars  the  schools  unquestionably 
suffered  severely.  Being  intimately  connected  with  the 
Church  and  subject  to  the  direction  and  supervision  of  the 
clergy,  the  school  could  not  remain  intact  where  the  church 


220 


THE  CHARITIES 


had  been  sacked  and  burned.  The  provincial  councils  and 
the  diocesan  synods  reecho  the  bitter  complaints  wrung  from 
the  clergy  by  the  sad  state  of  affairs.  Even  Henry  IV  was 
compelled  to  acknowledge  in  1590  that  ignorance  was  ram¬ 
pant  in  his  kingdom  in  consequence  of  the  prolonged  civil 
wars.  It  is,  however,  during  this  same  period  that  we  find 
renewed  zeal  and  solicitude  among  the  clergy  for  popular 
education.  They  wTere  aroused  to  action,  in  the  first  place, 
by  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  as  also  by  the  realiza¬ 
tion  of  the  danger  that  was  threatening  their  schools  and  at 
the  sight  of  the  increasing  depravity  of  the  younger  elements 
of  society.  A  school  in  every  city,  town  and  village  was  the 
object  of  their  efforts.  The  movement  here  begun  continued 
with  almost  uninterrupted  enthusiasm  throughout  the  first 
half  of  the  following  century,  culminating  in  the  elementary 
schools  of  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle  in  the  last  quarter  of 
the  same  century.63 

The  sixteenth  century  saw  also  the  beginnings  of 
religious  congregations  of  both  sexes  which  had  as  object 
the  elementary  education  of  youth.  The  first  in  the  order 
of  time  are  the  Ursulines  founded  in  Brescia  in  1535  by  the 
Franciscan  Tertiary,  St.  Angela  de  Merici,  for  the  education 
of  girls.  A  similar  institute  was  founded  at  Avignon  in  1574 
and  began  a  common  life  in  1594.  The  Ursulines  were 
brought  to  Paris,  1608.  New  foundations  were  soon  made 
at  Toulouse,  Bordeaux,  and  other  cities  of  France.  Peter 
Fourier  founded  the  Religious  of  the  Congregation  of  Our 
Lady  in  the  diocese  of  Toul  for  the  education  of  girls  in  1598. 
The  Sisters  were  conducting,  thirty-two  institutions  at  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1640.  The  Daughters  of  Our  Lady  of 
Bordeaux  were  founded  for  the  same  purpose  at  Bordeaux 
in  1607  by  Jeanne  de  Lestonac,  niece  of  Montaigne  and 
Marquise  de  Montferrand,  who  at  her  death  left  forty 
flourishing  educational  establishments.  The  Religious  of  the 

63  For  details  cf.  l’Abbe  Allain,  l’ Instruction  primaire  en  France  avant  la 
Revolution,  Paris,  1881,  pp.  21-39,  45-6,  49-53,  123-8,  131-2,  151,  163,  176-83, 
218-24;  Armand  Ravelet,  Blessed  J.  B.  de  La  Salle,  Paris,  1888,  Book  i., 
Primary  Education  before  the  Time  of  Blessed  de  la  Salle,  chap.  ii.  and  iii., 
pp.  13-64;  Patrick  J.  McCormick,  Education  of  the  Laity  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  series  of  articles  in  Catholic  Educational  Review,  beginning  November, 
T911;  Rt.  Rev.  William  Turner,  D.  D.,  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  Article: 
Schools. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


221 


Visitation  were  founded  in  1610  by  St.  Francis  de  Sales  and 
St.  Jeanne  de  Chantal,  and  already  in  1641  possessed  eighty- 
seven  houses  in  France  and  Savoy.  The  Sisters  of  Christian 
Doctrine  of  Nancy  were  founded  in  1615  for  the  care  of  the 
sick  and  the  gratuitous  teaching  of  girls.  The  Daughters  of 
the  Cross  were  established  at  Rove  in  Picardy  in  1625  to 
conduct  schools  for  girls.  The  Daughters  of  St.  Genevieve 
were  founded  in  Paris  by  Francisca  de  Blosset  in  1636  to 
instruct  little  girls  and  train  teachers  for  the  country 
schools.  In  1650  we  see  rise  almost  simultaneously  the 
Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  at  Le  Puy  and  the  Sisters  of  St.  Maurice 
at  Chartres.  Among  the  other  religious  communities  con¬ 
secrated  entirely  or  partly  to  the  education  of  girls  which 
trace  their  origin  to  this  period  we  may  mention  the  Sisters 
of  Divine  Providence,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Agnes  and  the  Sisters 
of  Faith. 

But  while  the  congregations  of  women  for  the  instruction 
of  youth  were  very  numerous,  those  of  men  devoted  to  the 
promotion  of  secular  education  were  by  far  rarer  and  less 
successful.64 

But  despite  these  untiring  efforts  of  the  zealous  bishops 
and  individuals  for  the  cause  of  popular  education,  we  find 
traces  of  gross  ignorance.  Marguerite  Nazeau,  for  example, 
a  country  girl  and  St.  Vincent’s  first  Daughter  of  Charity, 
had  learned  to  read  on  her  own  initiative  and,  before  con¬ 
secrating  her  life  to  the  service  of  the  poor  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  Saint,  went  about  the  country  instructing  others. 
St.  Vincent  seems  not  at  all  surprised  that  many  of  his 
novices  from  the  country  knew  neither  how  to  read  nor 
write.  He  writes  in  a  matter-of-fact  way  to  Mile,  le  Gras 
concerning  a  new  postulant:  “I  did  not  think  of  speaking 
to  her  concerning  her  reading  and  sewing.”  In  his  confer¬ 
ences  to  the  Sisters  we  meet  with  such  expression  as  “those 
who  do  not  know  how  to  read,”  “a  Sister  .  .  .  not  knowing 
how  to  read  and  not  having  a  companion  who  could  teach 


64  For  details  concerning  these  various  religious  communities  cf.,  under 
their  respective  heads,  Le  R.  P.  Helyot,  Dictionnaire  des  Ordres  Religieux, 
on  Histoire  des  Ordres  Monastiques,  Religieux  et  Militaires,  4  vols.,  Migne 
edit.,  Paris,  1847-59;  Dr.  Max  Heimbucher,  Die  Orden  und  Kongregationen 
der  Katholischen  Kirche,  Paderborn,  1896-7;  Herder's  Kirchenlexikon, 
Freiburg  im  Breisgau,  1882-1903. 


22 


THE  CHARITIES 


her,”  and  “the  poor  girls  who  are  from  the  country  and  do 
not  know  how  to  read.”65 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  at  all  times  manifested  a  keen  inter¬ 
est  in  primary  education.  It  was  part  of  the  regular  pro¬ 
gramme  of  his  priests  when  giving  missions  to  the  people 
to  see  the  schoolmasters  and  the  schoolmistresses.  They 
gave  them  “the  instructions  and  advice  necessary  to  acquit 
themselves  worthily  of  their  charges  and  to  rear  the  children 
in  virtue  and  inspire  them  with  piety.”66 

Mile,  le  Gras,  too,  paid  special  attention  to  the  local 
schools  as  she  passed  from  village  to  village  on  her  tours 
of  visitation.  She  ordinarily  remained  some  time  in  each 
parish,  but  always  under  the  good  pleasure  of  the  bishop 
and  the  parish  priest.67 

At  times  St.  Vincent  would  announce  her  coming  to  the 
pastor  and  recommend  him  to  receive  her  kindly.  “Mon¬ 
seigneur  le  R.  P.  de  Gondi,”  he  wrote  to  the  pastor  of 
Bergeres,  “having  seen  the  great  good  which  Mile,  le  Gras 
is  doing  at  Montmirail  and  at  Villepreux  through  the  instruc¬ 
tion  of  the  girls,  has  desired  to  procure  the  same  good  for 
those  of  your  parish  and  has  asked  this  good  lady  to  take 
the  trouble  to  go  to  see  you  for  this.  She  has  consented  in 
her  charity  to  do  so.  She  is  coming  then,  and  I  beg  you  very 
humbly  to  assure  me  that  you,  sir,  will  be  very  glad  that 
our  Lord  offers  you  this  occasion  for  the  good  of  the  souls 
which  He  has  committed  to  you.  .  .  .  And,  in  order  that 
your  people  be  informed  of  the  purpose  of  Monseigneur  le 
R.  P.  Gondi,  you  will  notify  them,  if  you  please,  in  the 
sermon  and  urge  them  to  send  their  daughters  to  the  lodging 
of  the  said  lady  at  the  hours  which  she  will  propose  to  you.”68 


65  Lett.,  i..  198,  No.  192.  Feb.  24,  1638;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i., 
41,  No.  6,  Ang.  16,  1641;  Ibid.,  188,  No.  19,  Jan.  29,  1645;  Ibid.,  ii.,  539,  No. 
95,  Oct.  13,  1658. 

66  Abelly,  ii.,  22. 

67  Vincent  gives  her  the  following  instructions  in  one  of  his  letters:  “If  • 
he  [the  Bishop  of  Chalons]  thinks  you  ought  to  change  something  in  your 
manner  of  procedure,  be  exact  in  it,  if  you  please;  if  he  thinks  you  ought 
to  withdraw  from  there,  do  it  tranquilly  and  gayly,  since  you  will  be  doing 
the  will  of  God.  If  he  leave  you  in  peace,  continue,  if  you  please,  to  instruct 
the  young  girls  .  .  .”  (Lett.,  i.,  46,  No.  33).  We  learn  from  a  later  letter 
that  she  withdrew.  Ibid.,  52,  No.  39,  Oct.  31,  1631.  Cf.  also  Ibid.,  100, 
No.  93. 

68  Ibid.,  40-1,  No.  27,  Sept.  2,  1631. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


223 


The  concluding  remarks  of  the  above  citation  insinuate 
a  difficulty  which  Mile,  le  Gras  encountered,  namely,  the 
negligence  of  some  parents  in  sending  their  children.  St. 
Vincent  in  one  of  his  letters  to  her  thinks  it  good  that  she 
“try  to  have  those  come  to  school  who  are  not  accustomed  to 
go.”  She  should  make  them  understand,  he  says,  “that  it  is 
not  a  school,  but  an  exercise  of  piety”  during  the  days  of 
her  stay.69  In  reality  she  would  assemble  the  young  girls 
at  her  lodging  or  some  other  suitable  place,  where  she 
“catechized  them  and  instructed  them  in  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  life.” 

If  there  was  a  schoolmistress  in  the  place  she  instructed 
her  in  all  charity  to  discharge  her  duties  efficiently.  If  there 
was  none,  as  it  quite  frequently  happened,  she  strove  to  have 
a  capable  and  reliable  lady  employed  for  the  purpose.  And 
to  initiate  her  the  better  into  the  work,  Mile,  le  Gras  “would 
commence  to  conduct  school  and  to  teach  the  little  girls  in 
her  presence.”70 

Competent  school-teachers,  however,  were  hard  to  find.71 
This  distressing  plight  exercised  a  double  influence  on  St. 
Vincent’s  course  of  action.  In  the  first  place,  it  prompted 
him  to  make  teaching,  especially  in  the  country  districts, 
one  of  the  two  principal  aims  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity.72 
In  his  special  rules  for  the  Sisters  of  the  Parishes73  he  pre¬ 
scribes  that  one  of  the  two  who  are  working  in  a  parish  shall 
with  the  consent  of  the  superioress,  “conduct  school  for  the 
poor  little  girls  of  the  parish,”  provided  the  care  of  the  sick 
be  net  thereby  impaired.  She  is  also  granted  the  liberty  of 
requesting  the  assistance  of  her  companion  if  there  be  need 
and  if  the  care  of  the  sick  permit  it.  This  rule  was  drafted 


09  Ibid.,  36-7,  No.  23,  May  4,  1631. 

70  Abelly,  i.,  160. 

71  Vincent  writes,  for  example,  to  Mile,  le  Gras  under  date  of  July  10. 
1632:  ‘T  think  it  opportune,  indeed,  to  establish  a  schoolmistress  at  Ville- 
neuve,  but  where  shall  we  get  her?  .  .  .  Certainly  I  see  no  means  especially 
within  the  short  time  you  have  to  see  Mile.  d’Attichy.  .  .  .  You  will  mean¬ 
while  give  the  mothers  of  your  scholars  hopes  that  you  will  send  them  a 
teacher  as  soon  as  possible.”  Lett.,  i.,  63-4,  No.  50.  Cf.  also  Ibid.,  20S,  No. 
203,  To  M.  Becu,  Priest  of  the  Mission  at  Richelieu,  June  2,  1638. 

72  Confer,  anx  Filles  dc  la  Char.,  i.,  42,  No.  6,  Aug.  16,  1641.  Cf.  also 
Abelly,  i.,  172. 

73  Ch.  xviii.,  art.  16,  6°,  Confer,  anx  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  629,  No.  105, 
Oct.  19,  1659. 


224 


THE  CHARITIES 


only  after  the  method  had  proven  successful  in  practice. 
In  1638,  for  example,  Vincent  sent  two  Sisters  to  Richelieu 
to  assist  the  Ladies  of  Charity  in  the  care  of  the  sick,  both  of 
whom  were  at  the  same  time  able  to  teach  school.  He  gave 
instructions  that  one  could  be  employed  for  this  latter  pur¬ 
pose  when  the  number  of  the  sick  had  diminished,  while  the 
other  should  be  returned.  A  few  weeks  later  he  was  able 
to  say  of  them  :  ‘‘The  two  Sister  servants  of  the  poor  whom 
we  have  sent  thither  from  here  are  doing  wonders,  the  one 
in  behalf  of  the  sick,  the  other  for  the  instruction  of  the 
girls.”74 

Moreover,  St.  Vincent  opened  the  school  of  Saint-Laurent 
at  Paris  in  1639  in  concert  with  M.  Lestocq,  the  pastor,  and 
one  at  Fontainebleau  in  1646.  And  very  soon  the  Daughters 
of  Charity  were  conducting  primary  schools  in  many  of  the 
towns  and  villages  of  France.  By  the  year  1655  they  were 
already  successfully  engaged  in  similar  work  in  Poland 
under  the  protection  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  queen 
of  Poland.75 

We  have  already  seen  the  provisions  St.  Vincent  made 
for  the  training  of  his  Daughters  of  Charity  in  preparation 
for  this  type  of  work  [pp.  141-3].  We  shall  merely  mention 
here  that,  apart  from  private  study  and  training  under  the 
direction  of  the  more  educated  members  of  the  community, 
the  Sisters  were  at  times,  at  least,  sent  elsewhere  to  perfect 
themselves  in  methods  of  teaching.  We  know,  for  example, 
that  a  certain  Sister  Frances  had  been  sent  to  Narbonne  “to 
learn  an  excellent  method  followed  there  for  the  instruction 
of  youth.”  “She  has  learned  it,”  St.  Vincent  assures  us, 
“and  makes  use  of  it  to  the  great  edification  of  all.”70 

The  second  influence  which  the  dearth  of  teachers  in  the 
rural  districts  had  in  molding  St.  Vincent’s  course  of  action 
is  seen  in  the  turn  he  gave  to  certain  newly  established 
institutions  at  Paris.  The  Daughters  of  the  Cross,  as  men¬ 
tioned  above,  were  founded  at  Roye  in  Picardy  in  1625  for 

74  Lett.,  i.,  22i,  No.  2T4,  To  M.  Lambert  at  Richelieu,  Oct.  i,  1638;  Ibid., 
225,  No.  216,  To  M.  Lucas,  Priest  of  the  Mission  at  Joigny,  Oct.  18,  1638. 

75  Ravelet,  31,  78;  Lett.,  iii.,  163,  No.  1121,  I'o  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at 
Warsaw,  May  7,  1655;  Ibid.,  170,  No.  1127,  June  4,  1655;  Lett.,  iv.,  445,  No. 
1921,  To  the  Queen  of  Poland,  Aug.  22,  1659. 

76  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  191,  No.  3,  July  24,  1660. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


225 


the  education  of  girls.  In  1636  they  were  compelled  to  flee 
on  account  of  the  war  and  to  seek  refuge  in  Paris.  Here 
they  were  received  by  Mme.  Marie  l’Huillier  de  Villeneuve, 
one  of  St.  Vincent’s  first  and  most  active  workers.  She 
assigned  them  a  house  at  Bric-Comte-Robert,  a  few  leagues 
from  Paris,  to  which  a  second  in  the  city  was  soon  added. 
Acting  on  the  advice  of  St.  Vincent  and  several  other  pious 
and  prudent  men,  Mme.  de  Villeneuve  broadened  the  original 
scope  of  the  institution.  She  continued  the  education  of 
poor  girls,  but  now  began  to  recruit  and  train  teachers  for 
the  rural  schools. 

Another  of  St.  Vincent’s  early  workers,  Francisca  de 
Blosset,  founded  a  religious  congregation,  the  Daughters  of 
St.  Genevieve,  in  the  parish  Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet 
at  Paris,  in  1636.  It  also  had  as  one  of  its  principal  aims 
the  training  of  teachers  for  the  schools  in  the  country.  A 
third  community,  the  Daughters  of  the  Holy  Family,  was 
begun  in  1661  by  Mme.  de  Miramion,  who,  too,  was  one  of 
St.  Vincent’s  Ladies  of  Charity.  St.  Vincent  had  assisted 
in  drafting  its  constitutions  before  his  death.  Its  aims  were 
practically  the  same  as  those  of  the  Daughters  of  St. 
Genevieve.77 

St.  Vincent’s  programme  of  education  was  that  of  his 
age.  He  himself  was  highly  educated.  His  first  associates 
in  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission,  too,  were  learned  men. 
Still,  as  Abelly  assures  us,  he  was  ordinarily  distrustful  of 
all  that  surpassed  the  mediocre  in  learning  if  it  were  not 
accompanied  by  a  true  and  sincere  humility.  Those  possess¬ 
ing  less  talents,  natural  or  acquired,  he  thought,  were 
better  disposed  to  trust  in  God,  and,  in  consequence,  better 
suited  for  the  Congregation  than  others  who  confided  more 
in  their  own  accomplishments  and  less  in  God.7S 

He  saw  the  necessity  of  education  and  advocated  its 
pursuance,  but  only  in  so  far  as  it  contributed  to  practical 

77  Helyot,  i.,  1173-7;  Idem,  ii.,  1011-9;  Heimbucher,  ii.,  428,  438-9;  Coste, 
89.  The  Daughters  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Margarete  Senaux  were  founded 
at  Paris  in  1639  for  the  education  of  girls  and  training  of  teachers;  but 
there  is  no  trace  that  St.  Vincent  was  connected  with  them.  Vincent  showed 
great  interest  also  in  the  Seminary  of  the  Daughters  of  Providence ;  they, 
too,  trained  the  better  qualified  of  their  wards  to  become  teachers,  but  not 
in  the  rural  schools  [See  p.  251]. 

78  Abelly,  i.,  409-12;  Idem.,  iii.,  27. 

B 


226 


THE  CHARITIES 


utility.79  It  is  not  that  a  priest  and  a  missionary  ought  not 
possess  knowledge,  he  tells  his  confreres,  but  only  so  much 
as  is  necessary  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  ministry  and  not 
to  satisfy  his  curiosity  and  ambitions;  it  is  necessary  to 
study  and  to  acquire  learning,  but  with  sobriety.  He 
expressed  practically  the  same  views  to  his  seminarians  on 
one  occasion  at  the  beginning  of  their  course  of  studies. 
“Knowledge  is  necessary,  my  brethren,”  he  said,  “and  woe 
to  those  who  do  not  employ  their  time  well!  But  let  us  fear 
and,  if  I  dare  say  it,  tremble;  for  those  who  have  talent 
have  reason  to  fear!  Sciejitia  inflat  [“knowledge  puffeth 
up.”  1  Cor.  8,  1].  Who  have  it  not,  it  is  still  worse  if  they 
do  not  humble  themselves,”80 

In  1634  M.  de  Coudray,  a  priest  of  the  Mission  well 

versed  in  the  Hebrew  and  Syriac  languages,  was  at  Rome. 

He  was  asked  to  assist  in  the  translation  of  the  Syriac  Bible 

into  Latin.  At  this  juncture  St.  Vincent  wrote  to  him  as 

follows :  “I  beg  you  not  to  resolve  upon  the  proposition 

which  one  has  made  to  vou  to  work  on  this  version.  I  know 

%/ 

% 

well,  it  will  serve  to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  some  but  cer¬ 
tainly  not,  as  I  believe,  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the  poor 
people  for  which  the  providence  of  God  has  had  the  design 
from  all  eternity  of  employing  you.  It  ought  to  be  sufficient 
for  you,  sir,  that  by  the  grace  of  God  you  have  employed 
three  or  four  years  to  learn  Hebrew  and  that  you  know 
enough  of  it  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  Son  of  God  in  His 
original  language  and  to  confound  his  enemies  in  this 
kingdom.”81 

We  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  Vincent  did  not 


79  Richelieu's  views  in  this  connection,  as  expressed  in  his  Testament 
Politique  (Part  I.,  ch.  ii.,  sect.  X.,  pp.  124-33),  are  worthy  of  note.  The 
fostering  of  science,  he  contends,  is  the  affair  of  the  State.  Education  ought 
ordinarily  to  be  restricted  to  three  classes  or  grades,  just  sufficient  to  expel 
that  utter  ignorance  detrimental  to  the  army  and  trades  alike.  The  espe¬ 
cially  talented  may  be  permitted  to  pursue  higher  studies  in  the  large  cities. 
If  all  were  highly  educated,  they  would  spend  their  time  in  useless  wrangling 
and  refuse  to  engage  in  industry,  commerce,  and  agriculture  and  to  render 
obedience  in  the  army.  These  views  of  the  great  statesman  are  in  perfect 
accord  with  his  principle  that  all  things  should  be  brought  into  the  service  of 
the  State,  and  should  be  fostered  only  in  so  far  as  they  serve  that  purpose. 

80  Abelly,  i.,  241,  n.  2;  Idem,  iii.,  328;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la 
Congreg.,  391,  No.  101,  Alar.  14,  1659.  See  also  pp.  142-3. 

81  Abelly,  ii.,  42;  Lett.,  i.,  84-5,  No.  73,  Feb.  16,  1634. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


227 


advocate  a  high  standard  of  primary  education.  Abelly 
summarizes  the  question  by  saying  that  the  Daughters  of 
Charity  were  employed  in  a  number  of  places  “to  instruct 
the  young  girls,  teaching  them  above  all  to  know  and  to  serve 
God  and  to  acquit  themselves  of  the  principal  duties  of  the 
Christian  life.”  These  duties  included  moral  obligations, 
but  also  such  manual  work  as  spinning  and  sewing.82 

St.  Vincent  gives  expression  to  his  views  on  the  schooling 
of  poor  boys  in  a  letter  to  M.  Coglee,  the  superior  at  Sedan, 
under  date  of  April  13,  1656.  A  priest  of  the  Mission  had 
urged  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  Paris  to  furnish  money 
wherewith  to  buy  books  for  the  use  of  the  poor  children 
frequenting  his  school.  The  Ladies  consented  that  he  use 
for  that  purpose,  for  three  or  four  months,  one  or  two  crowns 
per  month  of  the  money  they  sent  to  Sedan  for  the  poor. 
St.  Vincent,  however,  is  of  the  opinion  “that  it  is  not  oppor¬ 
tune  to  continue  it,  because  ordinarily  it  is  of  but  little 
service  to  youth  to  begin  the  study  of  Latin  when  they  have 
not  the  means  of  making  some  progress,  as  is  the  case  when 
the  parents  cannot  give  them  the  necessary  things,  unless 
there  is  some  good  talent,  which,  making  itself  known  as 
such  by  extraordinary  advancement,  gives  occasion  to  some 
charitable  person  to  assist  it  in  perfecting  itself.  With  this 
exception  the  majority  are  to  stop  midway.  It  is  preferable 
that  they  learn  a  trade  in  good  season ;  and  this  is  the  good 
you  ought  to  procure  for  these  poor  children,  urging  their 
parents  to  place  them  in  some  apprenticeship,  or,  rather, 
praying  God  that  He  inspire  the  Catholic  ladies  of  the  city 
to  do  as  those  of  Rheims  have  done,  who  have  united  for  a 
number  of  good  works,”  and,  among  them,  the  placing  of 
poor  children  in  apprenticeships.83 

St.  Vincent,  therefore,  while  fostering  popular  education, 
contributed  nothing  of  importance  to  educational  thought, 
the  curriculum  or  methods  of  teaching  in  the  primary 
schools.  His  most  conspicuous  and  resourceful  contribution 
was  the  directing  of  the  efforts  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity 
into  the  field  of  education  among  the  poor.  Others,  it  is 
true,  were  following  similar  lines  of  work.  But  while  these 


S2  See  Industrial  Training,  p.  232;  Abelly,  i.,  172. 
83  Lett.,  iii.  259-60,  No.  1219. 


228 


THE  CHARITIES 


often  limited  their  activities  to  the  cities,  or  were  restricted 
to  a  certain  type  of  children  in  need,  or  soon  drifted  from 
their  original  purpose,  the  Daughters  of  Charity  devoted 
their  efforts  principally  to  the  poor  children  of  the  country 
districts  and  adhered  to  the  work.  But  more  fundamental 
and  original,  as  constituting  the  primitive  models  of  our 
normal  schools,  were  his  efforts  for  the  training  of  teachers 
for  the  rural  schools  through  the  Daughters  of  the  Cross, 
the  Daughters  of  St.  Genevieve,  and  the  Daughters  of  the 
Holy  Family. 

In  judging  the  views  and  efforts  of  St.  Vincent  in  the 
cause  of  primary  education,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  he 
was  influenced  not  only  by  the  general  educational  standards 
of  his  age,S4  but  also  by  the  general  economic  conditions  of 
France  and,  in  particular,  of  the  class  of  people  among  whom 
he  worked  and  whose  main  concern  was  to  possess  the  bare 
means  of  livelihood. 

3.  Industrial  Training 

The  term  of  apprenticeship  in  the  various  trades  at  this 
time  was  ordinarily  from  three  to  six  or  eight  years.  In 
exceptional  cases  it  was  but  two  months;  in  others  twelve 
years.  The  duration  generally  stood  in  inverse  proportion 
to  the  money  paid.  Thus,  for  example,  to  learn  the  baker’s 
trade  it  required  two  years  and  sixty-four  francs,  or  six 
months  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  francs.  Parents, 
unable  or  unwilling  to  make  the  required  payment,  sacrificed 
for  an  additional  year  or  two  the  free  services  of  their 
children.  According  to  a  royal  ordinance  of  1581,  the  sons 
of  masters  were  required  to  serve  but  one  half  the  regular 
period.  For  the  longest  of  the  apprenticeships,  when  the 
trade  demanded  more  skill  than  strength,  apprentices  were 
hired  very  young,  though  the  usual  age  was  ten  to  twelve 
years.  We  find  them  taken,  however,  in  the  lighter  trades 
at  six  years  of  age.  The  statutes  of  the  master  and  merchant 

84  As  late  as  1839  Gerando  (vol.  ii.,  481)  could  say  in  general  of  the 
elementary  schools  of  France  that  “one  will  find  that  the  children  there  con¬ 
tract  some  habits  of  application,  that  they  there  submit  to  the  yoke  of  an 
imperfect  discipline,  that  they  there'  learn  more  or  less  to  read,  write,  and 
cipher.  But  what  is  otherwise  the  culture  which  their  reason  and  their 
character  receive  there?” 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


229 


tapestry  workers,  for  example,  had  occasion  to  forbid  taking 
them  below  that  age.S5 

There  were  two  classes  of  apprentices;  viz.,  the  sons  of 
masters,  and  strangers  and  illegitimate  sons  of  masters. 
The  former  were  unrestricted  as  to  numbers.  Of  the  latter 
each  master  was  allowed  one  or  two,  very  rarely  three  or 
more.  It  was  at  times  forbidden  in  particular  cases  to 
engage  any  apprentices;  v.g.,  for  ten  years,  or  until  the 
workers  had  decreased  to  a  certain  number.  A  triple  con¬ 
tract  covering  all  details  intervened.  It  bound  the  father, 
the  apprentice,  and  the  master,  and  required  the  consent  of 
the  jurors  of  the  labor  corporation.  A  payment  was  also 
demanded  on  this  occasion  as  an  admission  fee  into  the 
union.  This  at  times  became  excessive.  It  was  reduced  to 
one  half  by  a  royal  edict  of  1577,  which,  however,  had  but 
little  effect. 

The  father  promised  to  cede  his  rights  over  his  son  for 
the  requisite  number  of  years  and  to  pay  a  certain  sum  in 
money  or  in  kind.  The  apprentice  promised  to  remain  faith¬ 
ful  to  his  master.  The  apprentice  entered  the  house  of  the 
master  and  became  one  of  the  family,  though  at  times  his 
condition  was  but  little  better  than  that  of  a  servant.  The 
master  was  held  responsible  for  the  intellectual  and  moral 
education  of  his  charge.  The  master  had  the  right  to  sell 
him  to  another  master.  If  he  ran  away  he  could  be  returned 
by  force,  or  the  master  exacted  an  idemnity  and  no  other 
master  could  take  him. 

Upon  completing  his  apprenticeship,  the  young  artisan 
passed  into  the  ranks  of  the  journeymen.  Here  the  majority 
of  the  workers  remained.  The  class  of  masters  was  becom¬ 
ing  more  and  more  exclusive.  In  the  thirteenth  century 
every  graduate  from  the  apprenticeship  was  a  master.  But 
since  the  fourteenth  century  he  had  to  pass  through  the 
intermediate  stage  of  the  journeymen,  and,  if  he  were  not 
the  son  of  a  master,  he  was  generally  detained  there  by  the 
difficult  and  costly  masterpiece  which  was  ordinarily  a  pre- 


85  The  data  on  the  general  condition  of  apprenticeship  at  this  period 
have  been  drawn  from  such  works  as  Levasseur,  Histone  des  classes 
ouvrieres,  etc. ;  Martin  Saint-Leon,  Histoire  des  corporations  de  metiers, 
etc.;  d’Avenel,  Pay  sans  et  onvriers,  etc.;  Allain,  l’ Instruction  primaire,  etc. 


230 


THE  CHARITIES 


requisite  for  the  mastership.  There  was,  therefore,  a  studied 
discrimination  against  the  poor,  in  favor  of  the  sons  of  the 
masters,  and  a  conscious  effort  to  exclude  them  from  the 
masters’  ranks. 

Dependent  children  had  been  receiving  industrial  train¬ 
ing  in  their  institutions  since  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  In  the  boys’  elementary  schools  of  the  age,  too,  we 
already  note  traces  of  industrial  training.  Rabelais  (1483- 
1553)  gives  the  advice  that  the  student  visit  all  the  shops 
where  the  trades  of  that  period  are  being  plied.  Also  in 
different  parts  of  Europe  there  were  already  institutions 
or  manual  training  schools.  According  to  an  Act  of 
1575,  for  example,  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  English 
Houses  of  Correction  was  “that  the  young  be  trained 
to  work.”  A  similar  institution  was  opened  at  Dantzig 
in  1629. 86 

Industrial  training  was  a  logical  phase  of  St.  Vincent’s 
practical  programme  of  relief.  We  have  already  remarked 
his  insistence  on  the  duty  of  earning  one’s  livelihood.  But 
that  the  adult  may  be  permeated  with  a  sense  of  the  obliga¬ 
tion  to  work  and  at  the  same  time  know  how  to  comply  with 
it  to  the  best  advantage  to  himself  and  to  those  dependent 
upon  him,  the  youth  must  early  learn  to  realize  its  full 
import  and  at  the  same  time  acquire  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  methods  of  complying  with  it.  In  other  words,  he 
must  learn  some  useful  trade  at  an  early  age. 

St.  Vincent  had  ample  opportunity  of  giving  a  practical 
turn  to  these  his  ideas  during  the  many  years  of  his  char¬ 
itable  career.  Abelly  sums  up  his  whole  policy  in  this 
respect  when  he  says  of  the  foundlings  that,  “when  they 
advance  a  little  in  age,  they  [the  Daughters  of  Charity,  who 
were  in  direct  charge  of  them]  have  them  busy  themselves 
with  some  little  work  to  avoid  idleness  while  waiting  for  the 
providence  of  God  to  present  an  occasion  of  providing  for 
them  and  of  placing  them  in  a  position  to  subsist  through 
their  own  work  and  industry.”87  St.  Vincent,  therefore,  had 


86  Gerando,  ii.,  88;  Allain,  164;  Compayre,  84;  Lallemand,  iv.,  part  I., 
235,  239. 

87  Abelly,  i.,  212.  Cf.  also  Ibid.,  210;  Idem,  ii.,  470;  Lett,  et  Confer. 
( Suppl. ) ,  206. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


231 


his  charges  learn  to  keep  themselves  busy  from  their  earliest 
years,  not  for  the  sake  of  any  material  profit  that  might 
accrue  from  their  work  but  that  they  might  be  reared  from 
the  beginning  in  an  atmosphere  of  honest  work.  And  when 
they  were  of  competent  age,  they  were  apprenticed  in  some 
trade  suitable  to  their  age.ss 

In  St.  Vincent’s  three  constitutions  which  have  reference 
to  relief  of  poverty89  we  find  the  prescription  that  “the 
children  shall  be  apprenticed  in  a  trade  as  soon  as  they  have 
reached  the  competent  age,”  or,  as  another  expresses  it,  “as 
regards  the  young  boys,  one  shall  apprentice  them  in  some 
light  trade,  as  that  of  weaver,  which  does  not  cost  but  three 
or  four  crowns  for  each  apprentice.”  The  “competent  age” 
and  the  “young  boys”  mentioned  here  are  boys  of  about  eight 
years  of  age,  as  we  are  able  to  glean  from  one  of  the  con¬ 
stitutions. 

No  further  details  are  available  concerning  the  nature 
of  the  apprenticeship,  but  we  are  justified  in  holding  that 
such  a  boy,  once  apprenticed,  followed  the  ordinary  course 
of  an  apprentice  of  that  time. 

It  was  especially  during  the  relief  of  the  devastated 
provinces  that  the  poor  boys  and  orphans  were  provided  for 
in  this  manner,  either  in  one  of  the  cities  of  the  provinces 
or  upon  their  arrival  at  Paris.  At  Rheims,  for  example,  the 
Ladies  of  Charity  placed  nearly  a  hundred  and  twenty  such 
youths  in  respectable  and  suitable  trades  within  less  than 
eight  months.00 

St.  Vincent  did  not  restrict  his  efforts  along  these  lines 
to  the  boys.  He  rejoices  to  hear  that  one  of  the  Sisters  at 


ss  The  placing  of  dependent  children  in  trades  as  a  method  of  reliev¬ 
ing  poverty  received  legal  sanction  in  France  as  early  as  1362  in  virtue 
of  letters  patent  issued  in  approbation  of  a  confraternity  conducting  a  home 
for  three  to  five  hundred  homeless  children.  In  England,  Queen  Elizabeth 
and  James  I  had  already  prescribed  that  the  church  wardens  and  the 
inspectors  of  the  parishes  place  boys  in  trades,  supervise  them  during  their 
term  of  apprenticeship,  and  see  to  the  execution  of  the  conditions  of  the 
contract.  Gerando,  ii . .  422,  540-1. 

89 Rcgl.  dc  la  Confrerie  de  Char.  d’Hommes  (Folleville,  Oct.  23,  1620), 
Rcgl.  dc  la  Conf.  dc  Char,  d' Homines  ct  de  Femmes  (Courboing,  June  19, 
1 622),  Rcgl.  pour  une  Conf.  de  Char.  d’Hommes  et  de  Femmes  et  pou 
Y organisation  d’une  manufacture,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.) ,  412-433. 

90  Lett.,  iii.,  260,  No.  1219,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan.  Apr.  13,  1656 
Cf.  also,  T.g.,  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  203,  Confer,  at  Gen.  Assembly  o( 
Ladies  of  Char.,  July  11,  1657;  Abelly,  ii.,  468,  502. 


232 


THE  CHARITIES 


Liancourt  knows  how  to  make  lace,  for,  he  adds,  “she  will 
be  able  to  teach  it  to  the  poor  people/’91 

The  daughters  of  the  nobility,  who  had  been  removed 
» 

from  danger  in  Champagne,  were  placed  under  the  care  of 
the  Sisters  of  Sainte-Marie  at  Rheims,  where  they  were 
“instructed  in  the  fear  of  God  and  trained  to  occupy  them¬ 
selves  with  some  little  work.”  During  the  same  period,  St. 
Vincent  gave  orders  that  the  Irish  girls  and  widows, 
refugees  in  the  city  of  Troyes,  be  taken  to  the  Hospital  of 
Saint-Nicholas  “where  they  learned  to  spin  and  sew.”  And 
again,  the  parish  priest  of  Ham  writes  thus  to  St.  Vincent : 
“The  missionary  whom  you  have  sent  us  .  .  .  has  left  us 
wheat  and  money  to  feed  and  maintain  the  orphan  girls  to 
whom  one  teaches  a  trade  which  within  a  few  months  will 
render  them  capable  of  gaining  their  own  livelihood.”92 

But  St.  Vincent’s  interest  in  industrial  training  went 
still  further.  A  constitution  has  come  down  to  us  Which  he 
drafted  for  a  manual  training  school.  The  constitution 
naturally  presupposed  the  existence  of  such  a  school,  oivat 
least,  the  definite  determination  to  found  one,  but  there  is  no 
evidence  stating  where  the  school  was  situated  nor  any  other 
circumstances,  except  that  the  making  of  cloth  was  to  be 
taught  there.  The  confraternity  to  which  the  constitution 
in  its  entirety  refers,  is  one  composed  of  both  men  and 
women.  Its  general  organization  does  not  differ  materially 
from  those  considered  in  the  first  section  of  this  treatise.  As 
is  usual  in  such  confraternities,  the  care  of  the  sick  poor  is 
entrusted  to  the  women,  that  of  the  able-bodied  poor  to  the 
men.  The  care  and  direction  of  the  school  fall,  therefore, 
to  the  men.  Its  entire  direction  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
officers,  who  comprise  the  parish  priest,  a  commander,  two 
assistants  or  advisers,  a  treasurer,  and  a  visitor.93 

According  to  the  constitution,  the  members  are  to  rent 
a  house  where  all  the  poor  boys  of  the  city  and  its  depending 
villages  shall  “live  and  work  under  the  direction  of  an 
ecclesiastic  and  the  guidance  of  a  master  workman.” 


91  Lett.,  i.,  61,  No.  47,  To  Mile,  le  Gras. 

92  Abelly,  ii.,  522,  525,  527-8. 

93  Rdgl.  pour  une  Confer,  de  Char.  d'Hommcs  et  de  Femmes  et  pour 
V organisation  d’une  manufacture ,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  427-33. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


233 


Here,  as  in  all  his  charitable  undertakings,  St.  Vincent 
lays  great  stress  on  the  moral  training  of  his  charges.  The 
ecclesiastic  in  charge  is  instructed  to  teach  the  apprentices 
“the  catechism  and  Christian  piety”  for  at  least  one  half 
hour  in  the  church  after  Vespers  on  all  feast  days,  and  at 
1  p.  m.,  again  for  at  least  one  half  hour,  on  Tuesdays  and 
Fridays  at  the  factory  home.  He  shall  conduct  them  “two 
by  two  to  Mass  and  to  Vespers  on  feast  days  and  Sundays, 
and  to  Vespers  only  on  Saturdays  and  on  the  vigils  of  great 
feasts.”  He  shall  also  induce  the  boys  to  receive  the  sacra¬ 
ments  on  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month  and  on  the  solemn 
feasts.  It  is  the  further  charge  of  the  ecclesiastic  to  be  with 
the  boys  during  their  dinner  and  supper. 

The  master  workman’s  only  duty  is  to  teach  his  trade  to 
the  apprentices.  He  is  forbidden  to  interfere  with  the 
direction  and  management  of  the  institution.  Apart  from 
these  two  items  the  constitution  is  silent  on  the  obligations 
of  the  master.  All  details  concerning  the  method,  etc.,  of  his 
instructions  are,  therefore,  left  to  his  own  discretion,  or, 
perhaps,  are  to  be  specified  by  the  officers  as  circumstances 
demand. 

One  of  the  members  of  the  confraternity  is  to  visit  the 
establishment  daily  in  order  to  render  what  service  he  finds 
necessary,  to  carry  out  any  particular  order  the  officers  may 
have  given  him,  and  to  note  the  needs  and  disorders,  which 
must  be  reported  to  the  officers.  In  this  way  the  managing 
board  remains  in  constant  touch  with  the  work. 

Neither  the  ecclesiastic  nor  the  master  workman  is 
empowered  under  any  condition  to  admit  or  dismiss  the 
apprentices.  This  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the  board 
of  directors.  The  apprentices,  together  with  their  parents, 
must  oblige  themselves  by  oath  to  teach  their  trade  free  of 
charge  to  the  future  poor  boys  of  the  city  who  will  be  charges 
of  the  confraternity,  provided  the  officers  of  the  confra¬ 
ternity  call  upon  them  to  do  so. 

The  daily  routine  of  the  institution  is  thus  traced  out  by 
St.  Vincent:  4:00  a.  m.,  rising;  4:30-5:00  a.  m.,  morning 
prayer,  followed  by  work  until  the  first  bell  rings  for  Mass ; 
they  will  attend  this  Mass  in  a  body;  8:00  a.  m.,  breakfast; 
12:00  noon,  dinner  in  silence  and  with  reading;  3:30  p.  m., 


234 


THE  CHARITIES 


lunch;  7  :00  p.  m.,  supper  and  recreation;  7  :45  p.  m.,  night 
prayer  and  examination  of  conscience;  8:00  p.  m.,  retiring. 

The  officers  of  the  confraternity,  at  their  monthly  meet¬ 
ings  held  after  Vespers  on  the  first  Sunday  of  each  month, 
shall  treat  also  the  affairs  of  the  factory  school.  Each  officer 
shall  report  on  what  he  has  done  by  reason  of  his  office; 
problems  and  methods  shall  be  proposed,  discussed  and  dis¬ 
posed  of  by  a  plurality  of  votes.  The  institution  shall  be 
supported  from  the  treasury  of  the  confraternity,  which,  in 
turn,  shall  receive  its  funds  from  a  part  of  the  annual 
revenue  accruing  to  the  hospital  of  the  city,  from  the  collec¬ 
tions  taken  up  by  the  members  at  church  on  Sundays  and 
feast  days,  and  from  the  contributions  to  the  poor  boxes 
placed  in  the  inns  of  the  city. 


CHAPTER  III 


Delinquents 
1.  Prison  Work 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  was  led  to  undertake  work  among 

the  prisoners  by  the  logical  course  of  events.  After  an 

absence  of  five  months  as  parish  priest  of  Chatillon-les- 

Dombes,  where  he  organized  his  first  confraternity  of  char- 

_  • 

ity,  he  returned  to  the  Gondi  household  toward  the  end  of 
December,  1617.  At  Chatillon  he  had  had  experience  both 
in  the  care  of  souls  on  a  larger  scale  and  in  organized 
charity.  Utilizing  this  double  experience,  he  began  to  give 
missions  and  organize  confraternities  of  charity  on  the 
Gondi  estate.  M.  de  Gondi,  who  was  General  of  the  Galleys, 
wished  to  have  also  the  galley  slaves  under  his  jurisdiction 
to  participate  in  Vincent’s  charity.  In  consequence  of  his 
recommendation  and  petition  to  Louis  XIII,  St.  Vincent  was 
appointed  royal  almoner,  or  chaplain,  of  the  galleys  of 
France  in  virtue  of  a  special  brevet  issued  to  that  effect  Febr. 
8,  1619.  This  appointment  was  confirmed  Jan.  16,  1644,  by 
Louis  XIV,  who  at  the  same  time,  conferred  the  office  in 
perpetuity  on  the  superior  general  of  the  priests  of  the  Mis¬ 
sion  and  empowered  St.  Vincent  to  delegate  the  superior  of 
the  priests  at  Marseilles  during  his  absence  to  depose  and 
replace  chaplains  who  neglected  their  duties.1 

In  1622  St.  Vincent  went  to  Marseilles  to  learn  by  per¬ 
sonal  observation  the  needs  of  the  convicts.  The  spectacle 
that  met  his  eyes  beggars  description.  It  is  thus  referred 
to  by  Abelly:  “The  criminals  doubly  miserable,  more  bur¬ 
dened  with  the  insupportable  weight  of  their  sins  than  with 
the  weight  of  their  chains,  depressed  with  the  miseries  and 
pains  which  drove  from  them  the  care  and  the  thought  of 
their  salvation  and  prompted  them  constantly  to  blasphemy 

1  Abelly,  i.,  405-7,  Pieces  Justificative* ,  I. 

235 


236 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  despair.  It  was  a  true  picture  of  hell,  where  one  did 
not  hear  God  spoken  of  except  to  deny  or  dishonor  Him,  and 
where  the  evil  disposition  of  these  captives  rendered  all 
their  sufferings  futile  and  without  fruit.”2  Their  condition 
at  Paris  was,  if  possible,  even  more  deplorable.  They  were 
locked  up  in  dungeons  of  the  Conciergerie  and  other  prisons, 
“where  they  lay  at  times  for  a  long  while  before  being  sent 
to  Marseilles,  consumed  by  vermin,  enfeebled  by  languor  and 
want,  and  entirely  neglected  both  in  body  and  soul.”  If  they 
became  sick  while  serving  their  sentence  at  sea,  they  “always 
remained  attached  to  the  chain  on  the  galleys,  where  they 
were  preyed  upon  by  vermin,  depressed  with  anguish  and 
almost  consumed  with  putrefaction  and  infection.”3 

Such  were  the  moral  and  material  miseries  which  St. 
Vincent  discovered,  and  which  he  determined  to  alleviate 
in  virtue  of  his  royal  appointment.  He  immediately  under¬ 
took  the  task  of  relief.  In  order  to  gain  the  good  will  of 
the  convicts,  he  patiently  listened  to  their  complaints  and 
manifested  the  greatest  compassion  for  their  sufferings. 
He  urged  them  to  turn  their  bodily  miseries  to  their  spiritual 
advantage  and  urged  the  officers  by  prayers  and  remon¬ 
strances  to  treat  them  more  humanely. 

Returning  to  Paris,  he  remonstrated  with  M.  de  Gondi, 
holding  him  directly  responsible  for  the  treatment  given  the 
convicts  while  awaiting  their  transfer  to  Marseilles.  At 
the  same  time  he  proposed  a  plan  of  rendering  them  corporal 
and  spiritual  relief,  which  M.  de  Gondi  approved  and  em¬ 
powered  him  to  execute.  Accordingly,  in  1622,  St.  Vincent 
rented  a  house  in  the  suburb  Saint-Honore,  whither  the 
convicts  were  transferred  under  strong  guard.  Here  he 
frequently  visited  them,  consoling  and  instructing  them  and 
preparing  them  for  the  worthy  reception  of  the  sacraments. 
When  he  was  occupied  with  other  duties,  he  obtained  the 
services  of  two  priests,  interested  in  his  work,  to  replace 
him.  They  lodged  at  the  institution.  He  also  provided  for 
their  corporal  relief,  but  no  details  are  recorded. 

St.  Vincent  saw  that  if  this  work  was  to  endure,  it  must 
be  established  on  a  firmer  financial  basis.  Hence  he  enlisted 


2  Abelly,  i.,  92. 

3  Ibid.,  94,  191. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


237 


the  interest  of  the  king  and  of  the  officials  of  the  city,  and 
obtained  from  them  in  1632  an  ancient  castle  between  the 
gate  of  Saint-Bernard  and  the  Seine. 

The  moral  needs  of  the  convicts  in  the  new  institution 
were  at  first  cared  for  by  St.  Vincent  through  the  priests  of 
the  Mission.  Later  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  parish  church  of 
Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet  were  entrusted  with  this  phase 
of  the  work  with  the  annual  salary  of  300  livres.  This, 
however,  did  not  prevent  Vincent  from  urging  the  priests 
of  the  “Tuesday  Conference”  to  conduct  missions  for  them 
from  time  to  time,  especially  when  the  convicts  were  there  in 
large  numbers,  or  before  leaving  for  Marseilles.  In  fact, 
the  instruction  and  the  Confessions  of  the  poor  prisoners 
are  enumerated  among  the  special  employments  of  the 
priests  of  the  “Tuesday  Conference.”  Special  reference  is 
made  to  their  work  among  the  political  suspects  and  pris¬ 
oners  detained  in  the  Bastille.  These  prisoners  were  often 
socially  prominent.  Their  bodily  needs  were  being  amply 
cared  for,  but  they  were  being  neglected  spiritually. 
Through  the  intervention  of  St.  Vincent,  a  priest  of  the 
Conference  was  permitted  to  visit  them  and  urge  them  to 
lead  a  Christian  life. 

For  a  number  of  years,  St.  Vincent  contributed  also  to 
the  material  relief  of  the  convicts  from  the  resources  of  St. 
Lazare.  At  the  same  time,  he  occasionally  invited  persons 
of  social  prominence  to  visit  them  and  perform  some  acts 
of  charity  in  their  behalf.  Mile,  le  Gras  likewise  volunteered 
her  services  and  “rendered  all  kinds  of  charitable  offices,” 
assisting  them  from  her  own  alms.  But  since  she  was  the 
superioress  of  the  confraternity  of  the  parish  of  Saint- 
Nicolas-du-Chardonnet,  within  whose  limits  the  convicts 
were  housed,  Vincent  conceived  the  idea  of  having  her  sug¬ 
gest  to  the  Ladies  that  they  include  also  the  poor  convicts  in 
their  distribution  of  alms.4  From  this  time  forth,  to  assist 
the  convicts  was  always  considered  one  of  the  purposes  of 
the  Ladies  of  Charity. 

A  special  “Society  for  the  Prisoners”  was  founded  by 
Mme.  de  Lamoignon,  one  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  with  the 


4  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  S-g,  No.  2089,  To  Mile,  le  Gras. 


238 


THE  CHARITIES 


advice  of  St.  Vincent.  Prominent  persons  of  both  sexes, 
ecclesiastics,  and  magistrates  comprised  the  membership. 
They  obliged  themselves  to  visit,  assist,  and  console  the  con¬ 
victs,  and  to  obtain  the  release  of  those  who  were  imprisoned 
for  debts.  The  king  gave  a  substantial  donation  each 
year,  while,  on  each  Palm  Sunday,  the  Archbishop  of 
Paris  paid  the  ransom  for  one  prisoner  presented  by  the 
society.5 6 

In  1639  the  institution  was  assured  by  bequest  an 
annual  income  of  6,000  livres.  At  the  same  time  the  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity  began  to  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
convicts,  especially  of  the  sick.  “Two  or  three”  of  them 
were  engaged  for  the  purpose  in  1646,°  and  this  seems  to 
have  been  the  usual  number.  Abelly  assures  us  that  they 
exercised  “the  works  of  mercy  in  a  very  high  degree,”  and 
that  St.  Vincent  gave  them  special  regulations  conformable 
to  their  occupation,  but  we  have  no  details  regarding  the 
methods  they  used. . 

While  the  work  among  the  convicts  was  thus  being 
carried  on  at  Paris,  St.  Vincent  directed  his  attention  also  to 
Marseilles.  He  urged  upon  Richelieu,  the  prime  minister, 
who  had  in  the  meantime  become  general  of  the  galleys,  and 
upon  his  niece,  the  Duchess  of  Aiguillon,  the  extreme  neces¬ 
sity  of  a  hospital  where  the  sick  convicts  could  be  properly 
cared  for.  Through  their  mediation  and  with  the  aid  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Marseilles  and  a  beneficent  layman,  a  hospital 
was  erected  in  that  city. 

By  his  influence  at  court,  St.  Vincent  procured  for  it  a 
royal  endowment.  12,000  livres  were  assigned  to  it  in  virtue 
of  letters  patent  issued  in  1645.  The  priests  of  the  Mission 
established  at  Marseilles  were  given  the  spiritual  direction 
of  the  hospital  and,  conjointly  with  four  prominent  laymen, 
also  temporal  administration.  The  same  letters  patent 
empowered  the  superior  of  the  Mission  at  Marseilles  to  name 
and  depose  the  almoners  of  the  galleys  and  to  oblige  them 
to  live  in  community  in  the  house  of  the  Mission  when  the 

5  Coste,  63.  For  similar  societies  before  and  during  this  time  in  France 
and  other  countries,  cf.,  v.g.,  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  pp. 
164  sqq. 

6  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  497,  Memoir  addressed  to  Archb.  of  Paris  by 
St.  Vincent  to  obtain  episcopal  approbation  for  the  Daughters  of  Charity. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


239 


galleys  were  in  port,  in  order  to  fit  themselves  the  better  for 
the  exercise  of  their  functions.7 8 

A  glimpse  at  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  galley  slaves 
from  this  hospital  can  be  had  from  a  letter  addressed  to  St. 
Vincent  in  1645  by  one  of  its  founders.  He  writes  that  after 
its  establishment  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  galleys  were 
very  reluctant  to  commit  the  sick  convicts  to  the  hospital 
for  treatment,  and  then  continues :  “Indeed,  I  know  not 
how  to  express  to  you  the  joy  these  poor  convicts  experience 
when  they  see  themselves  transferred  from  this  hell  to  the 
hospital  which  they  call  a  paradise ;  already  upon  their 
entrance  one  sees  them  half  cured  of  their  ailment  because 
one  frees  them  of  the  vermin  with  which  they  come  covered, 
one  washes  their  feet,  then  puts  them  in  a  bed  somewhat 
softer  than  the  wood  on  which  they  are  accustomed  to  lie. 
And  they  are  all  enraptured  at  seeing  themselves  put  to 
bed,  served,  and  treated  with  a  little  more  charity  than  on 
the  galleys. ”s 

On  account  of  the  pest  from  1649  to  1655,  the  greater 
part  of  the  galleys  were  transferred  from  Marseilles  to 
Toulon.  At  this  time  St.  Vincent  wrote  thus  to  the  superior 
at  Marseilles :  “I  am  well  pleased  with  the  voyage  which 
you  say  you  intend  to  make  with  one  of  the  administrators 
[of  the  hospital]  in  behalf  of  the  poor  convicts  who  fall  sick 
on  the  galleys,  and  shall  be  very  glad  either  that  they  be 
taken  to  the  hospital  at  Marseilles  as  they  become  sick, 
or  that  there  be  some  place  at  Toulon  where  they  can  be  sent 
in  order  to  be  better  assisted  and  relieved.  As  to  the  former, 
I  shall  tell  you  that  I  doubt  very  much  if  M.  de  la  Ferriere 
wishes  to  grant  it  on  account  of  the  fear  he  may  entertain 
that  they  escape  while  being  conducted  from  Toulon  to  Mar¬ 
seilles  and  from  Marseilles  back  to  Toulon.”9 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  sick  seem  to  have  been  detained 
at  Toulon  throughout  the  period  of  the  pest.  A  house  was 
rented  to  care  for  them  there  and  a  priest  of  the  Mission  was 


7  Abelly,  i.,  190-2;  Lett.,  ii . .  82.  No.  590,  To  M.  Portail,  Missionary  at 
Marseilles,  April  24,  1638;  Ibid.,  84,  No.  592,  May  8,  1648. 

8  Abelly,  i.,  192-3. 

9  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  no.  No.  3089,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles, 
Dec.  11,  1654. 


240 


THE  CHARITIES 


usually  present  to  attend  to  their  moral  needs,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  to  see  that  their  bodily  wants  were  properly 
cared  for. 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  rendered  another  service  to  the  con¬ 
victs  of  the  galleys  which  was  highly  appreciated  by  them.' 
Relatives  and  friends  wishing  to  assist  them  gave  their 
donation  to  Vincent.  He  would  promptly  forward  it  to 
the  prospective  recipient.  But  instead  of  sending  each 
small  amount  singly,  he  deposited  a  sum  of  money  from 
time  to  time  with  the  superior  of  the  Mission  at  Marseilles, 
and  as  the  donations  were  given  him  for  the  convicts,  he 
instructed  the  superior  by  letter  to  give  the  amount  of  the 
donation  to  the  respective  convict,  if  he  was  at  Marseilles. 
If,  however,  the  galleys  were  at  Toulon,  as  during  this 
period  they  generally  were,  he  instructed  the  priest  at  Tou¬ 
lon  to  advance  the  money  and  then  draw  that  amount  from 
the  account  at  Marseilles.  Of  the  99  letters10  which  St. 
Vincent  wrote  to  M.  Get,  the  superior  at  Marseilles,  between 
Jan.  26,  1657  and  Sept.  9,  1660,*  11  nearly  half  contained 
instructions  to  give  money  to  specified  convicts.  The  sums 
usually  consisted  of  a  few  livres.  Occasionally  they  rose 
as  high  as  30  to  50,  and  once  to  316  livres.  On  one  occasion 
he  gave  instructions,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
donor,  that  5  sous  per  day  be  allowed  a  convict  for  three 
months.  It  is  not  stated  for  what  purposes  the  galley  slaves 
might  use  the  money  thus  obtained.  St.  Vincent  also  at 
times  had  letters  exchanged  between  the  convicts  and  their 
relatives  through  himself  and  the  superior  at  Marseilles.12 

We  have  seen  that  St.  Vincent  promoted  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  convicts  wherever  possible.  -  He  was  obliged 
to  render  them  this  aid  in  virtue  of  the  contract  of  founda¬ 
tion  drawn  up  by  M.  and  Mme.  de  Gondi,  which  formed  the 
real  beginning  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission.  The 
contract  reads :  “They  shall  be  obliged  ...  to  assist  the 
poor  convicts  spiritually  in  order  that  they  may  profit  by 


10  Lett.,  iii  and  iv.,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi.),  149. 

11  It  seems  that  St.  Vincent  adopted  this  method  only  with  the  former 
date. 

12  Lett.,  iii.,  601,  No.  1494,  To  M.  Get,  Supr.  at  Marseilles,  Oct.  5,  1657, 
and  Lett.,  iv.,  46,  No.  1618,  To  M.  Get,  April  5,  1658. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


241 


their  bodily  pains,  and  in  order  that  the  said  Lord  General 
[M.  de  Gondi]  may  satisfy  that  to  which  he  in  no  way  con¬ 
siders  himself  obliged  in  virtue  of  his  charge — a  charity 
which  he  intends  to  be  continued  in  perpetuity  in  the  future 
for  the  poor  convicts  by  the  said  ecclesiastics  for  good  and 
just  considerations.”13 

In  order  the  better  to  fulfill  the  obligation  herein  con¬ 
tained,  Vincent  had  missions  conducted  on  the  various 
galleys.  The  first  of  its  kind  was  given  to  the  convicts 
assembled  at  Bordeaux  in  1623. 14  He  obtained  the  assistance 
of  a  number  of  religious  of  the  city,  two  of  whom  he  assigned 
to  each  galley.  They  worked  with  enthusiasm  and  success, 
disposing  the  criminals  to  reconcile  themselves  with  God 
and  to  “accept  their  penalties  with  patience  and  in  satisfac¬ 
tion  for  their  sins.”15 

But  it  seems  to  have  been  only  twenty  years  later  that 
priests  were  appointed  to  give  missions  regularly  on  the 
galleys  at  Marseilles  and  later  at  Toulon.  The  need  of  these 
missions  is  attested  by  the  Archbishop  of  Marseilles  in  a 
letter  to  the  Duchess  of  Aiguillon,  dated  Mar.  6,  1643. 16  He 
writes :  “You  would  be  astonished,  madame,  if  you  knew  the 
number  of  those  who  have  spent  three,  four,  five,  and  ten 
years  without  Confession ;  and  there  were  found  some  who 
had  remained  in  this  state  for  the  space  of  twenty-five  years 
and  who  protested  their  unwillingness  to  do  anything  as  long 
as  they  remained  in  captivity.”  Their  minds  were  “not  only 
ignorant,”  as  we  learn  from  the  same  letter,  “but  also  har¬ 
dened  in  their  sins  and  .  .  .  [they]  did  not  wish  to  hear  the 
things  of  God  spoken  of,  being  embittered  to  the  extreme 
against  their  miserable  condition.” 

This  letter  also  assures  us  that  “the  fruit  [of  a  mission 
conducted  in  1643]  has  absolutely  surpassed  the  expectation 
one  had  conceived.  .  .  .  Little  by  little  the  grace  of  God, 
through  the  mediation  of  these  ecclesiastics,  has  so  softened 
their  hearts  that  they  now  show  as  much  contrition  as 

13  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Slip pi.),  438. 

14  The  year  previous  the  galleys  had  been  transferred  to  this  city  from 
Marseilles  to  meet  the  armed  forces  of  the  Huguenots. 

15  Abelly,  i.,  95-6;  Idem,  iii.,  396;  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la 
Congreg.,  432,  No.  104,  May  2,  1659. 

16  Abelly,  ii.,  48-50. 


242 


THE  CHARITIES 


formerly  they  manifested  obstinacy.”  Some  months  later 
the  superior  at  Marseilles  assured  St.  Vincent  that  “this 
task  is  laborious ;  but  the  remarkable  change  noticeable  in 
these  poor  convicts,  which  gives  us  all  possible  satisfaction, 
goes  far  to  encourage  us  to  sustain  it.”17 

St.  Vincent  himself  tells  us  the  secret  of  his  power  over 
the  hearts  of  criminals.  “Even  the  convicts,”  he  writes  to 
a  confrere,  admonishing  him  to  be  more  patient  and  cordial 
toward  those  with  whom  he  has  to  deal,  “with  whom  I  have 
staid,  are  not  gained  otherwise;  and  when  I  happened  to 
address  them  sharply,  I  spoilt  all ;  and  on  the  contrary  when 
I  praised  them  for  their  resignation,  when  I  compassionated 
them  in  their  sufferings,  and  when  I  told  them  they  were 
fortunate  in  suffering  their  purgatory  in  this  world;  when 
I  kissed  their  chains,  sympathized  with  their  pains  and 
testified  grief  for  their  disgraces, — then  they  listened  to  me, 
they  gave  glory  to  God  and  put  themselves  on  the  way  to 
salvation.”  He  then  asks  the  confrere  to  pray  to  God  that 
all  the  missionaries  may  adopt  “this  practice  of  treating  our 
fellow  men  kindly,  humbly,  and  charitably,  in  public  and  in 
private,  and  even  the  sinners  and  the  obdurate,  without 
ever  using  invectives,  reproaches,  or  rude  words  against 
anyone.”18 

St.  Vincent  expresses  his  attitude  toward  the  work  for 
the  galley  slaves  when  he  says  in  a  letter  to  Mile,  le  Gras: 
“Charity  toward  these  poor  convicts  is  of  incomparable 
merit  before  God.”  On  another  occasion,  when  writing  to  a 
confrere,  he  calls  a  charitable  disposition  toward  the  con¬ 
victs  “a  grace  [of  God]  so  precious  that  nothing  greater 
is  found  on  earth.”  And  again  we  read  in  one  of  his  confer¬ 
ences  to  the  Daughters  of  Charity :  “What  good  fortune  for 
you  to  serve  them, — those  wTho  have  been  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  persons  who  have  no  pity!  I  have  seen  them,  these 
poor  people,  treated  as  beasts.  God  at  last  has  taken  com¬ 
passion  on  them ;  they  have  moved  His  pity,  in  consequence 
of  which  His  goodness  has  done  two  things  in  their  favor: 
the  first,  to  procure  a  house  for  them  [at  Paris],  and  the 


17  Idem,  ii.,  50. 

18  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Snppl.f,  7-8,  No.  2087. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


243 


second  to  dispose  things  so  that  they  be  served  by  His  own 
Daughters,  for  to  say  Daughters  of  Charity  is  to  say  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  God.”19 

St.  Vincent,  however,  did  not  wish  that  his  priests  limit 
their  interest  to  the  galley  slaves,  but  that  they  extend  their 
aid  to  other  criminals  as  well.  He  tells  a  confrere  that  “it 
is  the  characteristic  of  priests  to  procure  and  show  mercy  to 
criminals,”  and  admonishes  him  never  to  refuse  assistance 
to  those  who  implore  his  mediation,  “especially  when  there 
is  more  misfortune  than  malice  in  their  crime.”  “There  is 
in  St.  Augustine  an  epistle  on  this  matter  (I  do  not  recall 
which  it  is),”  he  continues,  “which  shows  that  to  deliver 
sinners  and  prisoners  by  way  of  intercession  and  indulgence 
neither  foments  vice  nor  authorizes  it ;  and  shows  that  it  is  of 
the  seemliness  and  of  the  charity  of  ecclesiastics  to  plead  for 
them.  You  can  do  it  then  when  you  see  that  the  case  merits 
it,  and  you  can  anticipate  the  thoughts  of  the  judges  by 
telling  them  that  it  is  not  your  purpose  to  protect  crime  but 
to  exercise  mercy,  begging  it  for  the  guilty  and  demanding 
it  for  the  innocent  according  to  your  state.”20 

He  expressed  his  views  on  the  same  subject  a  number 
of  years  earlier.  Among  the  duties  expected  of  the  Mission 
Priests  in  virtue  of  their  vocation,  he  enumerates  the  visit¬ 
ing  of  “civil  prisoners,  and  also  criminals,”  but  he  adds,  only 
“after  the  evidence  has  been  presented  against  them,  or,  at 
least,  after  the  proceedings  have  been  instituted,  and  not 
sooner,  for  fear  that  they  [the  defendants]  will  complain 
against  you  if  they  are  convicted  of  something  they  confided 
or  confessed  to  you,  or  that  the  judges  will  complain  against 
you  if  they  do  not  confess  the  truth.”21 

2.  Juvenile  Delinquents 

St.  Vincent  did  not  restrict  his  activities  to  convicts  and 
adult  criminals,  but  devoted  his  attention  also  to  juvenile 
delinquents.  These  were  boys,  many  of  prominent  families, 
who,  by  their  drunkenness,  blasphemies,  immoralities,  tru- 


19  Ibid.,  8,  No.  1089;  Lett.,  ii.,  181,  No.  665,  To  M.  Dufour,  Confrere. 
Nov.  18,  1649;  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  98,  No.  62,  Oct.  18,  1655. 

20  Lett.,  iv.,  259-60,  No.  1780,  To  M.  Cal  el.  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Dec.  28,  1658. 

21  Lett.,  i.,  470,  50,  No.  407,  To  M.  Grimal,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Feb.  13,  1644. 


244 


THE  CHARITIES 


ancy,  robberies,  and  assaults  on  their  parents  and  others, 
were  “the  children  of  sorrow  for  their  fathers  and  mothers, 
the  disgrace  and  ruin  of  their  houses.”  Their  parents  had 
employed  in  vain  all  reasonable  means  of  correction  and  as 
a  last  resource  resolved  to  deprive  them  of  the  liberty  they 
abused. 

They  accordingly  brought  them  to  Saint-Lazare  with  the 
permission  of  the  magistrate  which  apparently  St.  Vincent 
demanded  in  each  case.  This  permission  amounted  in  reality 
to  a  commitment  by  the  magistrate,  which  he  or  the  Parlia¬ 
ment  alone  could  repeal.22 

The  boys,  as  far  as  can  be  learned,  were  received  without 
question  or  investigation.  We  adduce  the  following  facts 
in  illustration  from  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent  to  M.  Demurard, 
treasurer  of  France.  M.  Demurard’s  eldest  son,  with  whom 
St.  Vincent  was  acquainted,  came  to  Vincent  and  asked  if  he 
would  take  at  Saint-Lazare  a  youth  who  was  rebellious  to 
the  wishes  of  his  father.  Vincent,  as  usual,  consented  pro¬ 
vided  the  magistrate’s  permission  be  obtained.  Only  after 
the  boy  had  been  committed  to  Saint-Lazare  did  St.  Vincent 
learn  that  he  was  the  same  M.  Demurard’s  younger  son 
whose  rebellion  consisted  in  his  determination  to  quit  the 
Seminary  of  Saint-Charles23  and  to  marry — a  step  which 
St.  Vincent  himself,  shortly  before,  had  advised  him  to  take 
if  he  thought  fit  after  making  a  spiritual  retreat  and  taking 
proper  advice.  St.  Vincent  wrote  the  letter  to  the  father, 
from  which  we  are  quoting,  assuring  him  that  the  Parlia¬ 
ment  would  condone  the  commitment  upon  hearing  the  true 
state  of  affairs,  and  begged  him  to  restore  his  son  to  favor.24 

The  youths  underwent  strict  confinement  in  a  building 
apart  from  the  main  structure  of  Saint-Lazare.  No  one 
from  outside  was  permitted  to  visit  them  except  with  the 
permission  of  those  who  had  placed  them  there.  And  even  of 
the  members  of  Saint-Lazare,  only  those  who  were  charged 
with  their  care  ever  saw  or  knew  them.  This  strict  seclusion 


22  Lett.,  iv.,  370-2,  No.  1861,  To  M.  Demurard,  Treasurer  of  France, 
June  14,  1659. 

23  A  preparatory  senlinary  of  Saint-Lazare  founded  by  St.  Vincent 
himself. 

2i  Ibid. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


245 


was  evidently  a  precautionary  measure  to  safeguard  the 
good  name  of  the  boys’  families. 

Certain  of  the  lay  brothers  were  assigned  to  care  for 
their  nourishment  and  other  bodily  needs.  St.  Vincent  con¬ 
sidered  it  a  matter  of  justice  that  they  be  given  fair  treat¬ 
ment  and  good  food,  and  not  “meat  or  wine  that  was  left 
over  from  the  preceding  evening”;  he  demanded  that  they 
be  given  the  same  food  as  the  priests  of  the  community. 
Justice  demanded  further,  he  said,  that  those  who  paid 
more  receive  something  more  than  those  who  paid  less.25 

Some  of  the  priests  were  charged  with  their  moral  wel¬ 
fare.  They  visited  and  consoled  them  and  exhorted  them 
“to  change  their  life,  to  abandon  vice  and  turn  to  virtue, 
representing  to  them  the  temporal  and  eternal  evils  of  their 
profligate  life  and  advantages  of  honor  and  salvation  that 
come  to  obedient  children  and  to  wise  and  God-fearing 
men.”  They  also  had  them  devote  some  of  their  time  to 
spiritual  reading. . 

The  daily  routine  of  these  youths  was  strict  and  regular. 
They  had  a  specified  time  for  each  of  their  exercises.  The 
length  of  their  stay  at  Saint-Lazare  was  determined  by  their 
conduct.  They  were  ordinarily  kept  until  one  detected  sure 
signs  that  they  were  “disposed  to  live  better  and  to  behave 
more  wisely  for  the  future.”  Before  their  departure  they 
made  a  spiritual  retreat  in  preparation  for  a  general  Con¬ 
fession  and  for  the  worthy  reception  of  Holy  Communion. 

St.  Vincent  ever  had  the  welfare  of  the  delinquents  very 
much  at  heart.  He  frequently  recommended  them,  as  also 
the  priests  and  brothers  who  cared  for  them,  to  the  prayers 
of  the  community  that  God  might  give  to  the  former  the 
grace  of  a  sincere  conversion  and  to  the  latter  the  encourage¬ 
ment  and  the  ability  to  discharge  their  duties  faithfully. 
He  took  Christ  for  his  model  here  as  in  all  his  other  works. 
As  Christ,  he  argued,  had  compassion  on  the  demoniacs,  the 
tempted,  and  the  possessed,  why  should  the  brethren  not 
“strive  to  imitate  Him  in  a  thing  which  He  has  testified  to 
be  so  pleasing  to  Him?” 

Vincent’s  prime  purpose  in  keeping  the  wayward  boys 

25  Avis  et  Confer,  aux  Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  188-9,  No.  61,  Repetition 
d’Oraison  du  16  Mars  i6j6. 


246 


THE  CHARITIES 


at  Saint-Lazare  was  to  effect  in  them  a  radical  change  of 
life,  and  toward  its  attainment  he  had  the  brethren  in  charge 
devote  all  their  efforts.  A  secondary  purpose  was  to  relieve 
the  boy’s  family  of  trouble  and  worry.  This  is  evident  from 
his  own  statement.  One  of  the  priests  told  St.  Vincent  of 
a  boy  who,  even  after  a  long  confinement,  gave  no  hopes  of 
betterment;  he  had  made  use  of  threats  and  was  capable 
“of  some  evil  attempt  sooner  or  later.”  He  suggested,  there¬ 
fore,  that  the  boy  be  sent  back  to  his  parents.  Vincent 
promptly  answered :  “Are  you  aware  of  the  fact,  sir,  that 
the  principal  purpose  we  ought  to  have  in  receiving  these 
boarders  here,  is  charity?  But  tell  me,  is  it  not  a  great 
charity  for  us  to  retain  this  man  since,  if  he  were  outside, 
he  would  renew  the  trouble  which  he  has  formerly  caused  to 
all  his  relatives,  who  have  had  him  confined  here  with  the 
permission  of  the  court,  because  being  a  bad  boy  they  could 
not  manage  him?  They  have  brought  him  here  in  order  to 
have  rest  in  their  family  and  to  try  if  God  by  this  means 
would  deign  to  bring  about  his  conversion.  Hence,  to  desire 
to  send  him  back  to-day,  being  still  in  his  first  frame  of  mind, 
would  be  to  wish  to  put  trouble  back  into  a  family  which  is 
at  present  at  peace  through  his  absence.”  He  then  adds  that 
the  threats  of  the  boy  are  not  to  be  feared,  since  he  should 
know  that  it  is  his  parents,  and  not  the  Company,  that  keep 
him  there. 

St.  Vincent’s  method  of  treating  these  delinquents,  there¬ 
fore,  ran  along  three  main  lines :  strict  confinement,  good 
bodily  care,  and  kind  moral  persuasion.  The  method  was 
looked  upon  with  favor  by  the  courts  of  the  time  as  is  evi¬ 
denced  in  the  first  place,  by  the  fact  that  the  magistrates 
committed  the  unruly  boys  to  Saint-Lazare.  Moreover,  one 
of  the  highest  judges  of  a  sovereign  court,  whose  nephew 
had  demanded  money  from  him  under  threat  of  death,  was 
informed  by  a  magistrate  of  the  existence  and  methods  of 
the  institution  at  Saint-Lazare.  He  then  made  the  state¬ 
ment  that  Paris  had  need  of  four  similar  institutions. 

The  results  were  very  satisfactory.  Of  those  who  had 
spent  some  time  at  Saint-Lazare  many  were  thoroughly 
reformed  upon  their  departure.  Many  who  had  given  up 
their  studies  for  a  life  of  debauchery  returned  to  their 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


247 


classes,  where  “they  did  wonders.”  Others,  who  had  stolen 
from  the  paternal  house  and  had  been  committed  to  Saint- 
Lazare  before  having  an  opportunity  to  squander  it,  frankly 
acknowledged  where  they  had  hidden  the  stolen  goods  and 
made  full  reparation.  Others,  who  had  struck  their  parents, 
or  had  threatened,  or  attempted  to  take  their  lives,  begged 
pardon  of  their  parents  and  never  after  gave  cause  of 
complaint. 

In  later  years  these  youths  were  found  in  every  walk  of 
life,  leading  honorable  and  virtuous  lives.  Some  entered 
austere  religious  orders  where  they  led  a  life  of  penance. 
Others  joined  well-regulated  religious  communities  where 
they  devoted  themselves  to  the  service  of  God  and  of  fellow 
man.  Others  became  secular  priests  and  fulfilled  their 
charges  faithfully.  Others  entered  business  or  public  life. 
Some  even  were  found  worthy  and  capable  of  being  elevated 
to  the  highest  offices  of  the  judicature  and  other  offices  of 
great  responsibility,  which  they  exercised  with  efficiency 
and  honor.26 

3.  The  Magdalens 

Sexual  immorality  was  widespread  in  France  at  this 
period.  The  civil  and  foreign  wars  with  the  resulting  social 
unrest  and  religious  ignorance  and  indifference  were 
undoubtedly  contributing  factors  of  no  small  importance. 
In  1560  an  ordinance  was  issued  at  Paris  prohibiting 
brothels.  Later  all  prostitutes  were  required  to  leave  the 
city  within  twenty-four  hours.  In  1635  an  edict  was  issued 
condemning  the  men  who  engaged  in  the  traffic  to  the  gal¬ 
leys  for  life  and  the  women  and  girls  to  be  whipped,  shaven, 
and  banished  for  life  without  formal  trial. 

The  Catholic  reform  movement,  inaugurated  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  included  an  earnest 
endeavor  to  abolish  or,  at  least  to  mitigate,  this  vice  with 
its  evil  effects.  The  Order  of  Penance  of  St.  Magdalen, 
which  had  convents  in  Germany  as  early  as  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century  for  the  admission  and  conversion  of 
fallen  women,  opened  a  house  at  Paris  in  1618.  In  the  sec¬ 
ond  decade  of  the  century,  Marie-Elizabeth,  widow  of  M. 


2G  Abelly,  ii.,  392-402. 


248 


THE  CHARITIES 


Dubois,  opened  a  refuge  for  a  few  fallen  girls  at  Nancy  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  her  three  daughters,  cared  for  their 
temporal  and  spiritual  needs.  Encouraged  by  the  Bishop 
of  Toul,  she  founded  a  congregation  to  stabilize  the  work 
in  1631.  The  congregation  was  approved  by  Urban  VIII 
three  years  later.  In  the  same  year  Marie-Elizabeth  with 
her  daughters  and  seven  companions  took  the  three  usual 
religious  vows,  to  which  was  added  a  fourth;  namely,  to 
consecrate  themselves  to  the  service  of  fallen  women.  The 
congregation  soon  spread  throughout  France  and  was  very 
successful. 

Another  congregation  of  this  character  owes  its  origin 
to  Father  Eudes.  In  1640  Magdalena  Lamy,  an  ordinary 
working  woman,  proposed  to  him  the  urgent  need  of  an 
institution  for  the  conversion  of  fallen  women  in  Caen. 
Father  Eudes  immediately  procured  a  house  for  the  purpose 
and  put  a  number  of  secular  women  in  charge.  Because  of 
internal  dissension  all,  with  one  sole  exception,  left  the  house 
at  one  time,  leaving  only  the  penitents  behind.  In  this  crisis 
the  Bishop  of  Bayeaux,  at  the  request  of  Father  Eudes,  sent 
a  tried  religious  of  the  Visitation,  Frances  Margaret  Patin, 
with  two  companions  to  take  charge.  Thus  were  formed 
the  beginnings  of  the  Sisters  of  Refuge  in  1644.  The  special 
purpose  of  the  newT  organization  was  the  education  of  youth 
and  the  conversion  of  fallen  women.  The  penitents  were 
divided  into  three  classes :  a.  girls  under  fifteen  years  of 
age  who  had  contracted  immoral  habits,  or-  who  showed 
immoral  proclivities ;  b.  girls  over  15  years  of  age  who  sought 
admission  voluntarily;  c.  those  who  were  admitted  at  the 
request  of  parents  or  the  municipal  authorities,  and  who 
were  usually  already  morally  corrupt.  Each  class  was 
strictly  segregated  from  the  others.27 

St.  Vincent,  too,  was  keenly  interested  in  this  type  of 
work.  He  was  directly  connected  with  two  institutions 
laboring  to  regain  these  unfortunates  from  their  sinful  lives. 
He  also  did  much  to  protect  innocent  girls  from  the  snares 
of  the  world  and  the  malice  of  men. 


27  Cf.,  v.g.,  Heirnbucher,  i.,  531-2,  No.  3.  The  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shep¬ 
herd  took  their  origin  from  this  Congregation  in  1835. 


249 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 

A.  St.  Vincent  and  la  Madeleine 

As  mentioned  above,  the  Order  of  Penance  of  St.  Magda¬ 
len  founded  a  convent  at  Paris  in  1618.  The  institution  was 
a  failure  practically  from  the  beginning  because  of  lack  of 
experience  and  administrative  ability  on  the  part  of  those 
in  charge.  St.  Francis  de  Sales  was  asked  to  put  his  Sisters 
of  the  Visitation  in  control,  but  he  considered  the  under¬ 
taking  inopportune.  After  his  death,  the  same  proposition 
was  made  to  St.  Vincent.  He  was  now  spiritual  director  of 
these  religious  and  they,  on  their  part,  were  eminently  fitted 
for  the  work  by  their  special  profession  of  charity  and  kind¬ 
ness.  Hence,  after  mature  consideration,  St.  Vincent  was 
fully  persuaded  that  the  Sisters  of  the  Visitation  should  be 
placed  in  charge.  Accordingly  in  1629,  he  destined  four 
for  the  work. 

There  was  much  to  be  regulated  and  reformed  in  this 
institution.  St.  Vincent  proceeded  with  his  wonted  circum¬ 
spection.  He  held  a  number  of  consultations  with  doctors 
and  other  persons  of  singular  prudence  and  piety  concern¬ 
ing  the  most  efficient  means  of  meeting  the  situation.  New 
constitutions  were  drafted  in  1637.  They  received  eccle¬ 
siastical  approbation  three  years  later.  The  institution  pros¬ 
pered  under  its  new  direction,  and  independent  branch 
houses  were  founded  at  Bordeaux  and  Rouen. 

Under  pain  of  excommunication  only  sinful  girls  could 
be  admitted.28  Those  whose  virtue  was  endangered,  how¬ 
ever,  could  also  be  admitted,  but  only  at  the  request  of  their 
parents.  The  penitents  were  divided  into  three  classes.  The 
first  class  comprised  those  who  had  given  proof  of  their 
conversion  after  a  long  probation  and  had  been  admitted 
to  vows.  The  second  class  embraced  those  who  remained 
in  the  institution  voluntarily  and  led  a  regular  life  of  prayer, 
meditation  and  appropriate  work,  but  were  without  vows, 
either  because  they  were  considered  as  yet  unworthy  or  for 
some  weighty  reason,  v.  g.,  because  they  were  married. 
After  they  were  reformed  and  confirmed  in  virtue,  they 

28  This  severe  measure  was  resorted  to,  either  in  order  to  force  the  insti¬ 
tution  to  resume  its  original  purpose,  from  which  the  religious  formerly  in 
charge  had  shifted,  or  in  order  to  assure  the  absolute  exclusion  of  innocent 
girls  from  contact  with  the  fallen. 


250 


THE  CHARITIES 


were  free  either  to  leave  the  institution  or  to  remain  and 
enter  the  first  class.  This  latter  choice  presupposed  a  strict 
novitiate  of  two  years.  To  the  third  class  belonged  those 
who  were  retained  at  the  institution  against  their  will. 
They  were  placed  under  the  immediate  direction  and  guid¬ 
ance  of  the  Sisters  of  the  second  class,  who  by  word  and 
example  endeavored  to  reclaim  them  from  their  sinful  lives 
and  to  instill  into  their  hearts  a  love  for  virtue.  They  lived 
and  took  their  meals  apart  from  the  other  religious  of  the 
house  and  spent  their  time  in  acts  of  penance,  prayer,  and 
work.  They  were  kept  in  closer  or  less  strict  confinement 
according  to  their  behavior,  though  all  the  classes  were 
strictly  cloistered.  Upon  their  conversion  they  could  either 
leave  or  join  the  second  class,  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 
pass  to  the  first. 

There  were  ordinarily  between  100  and  120  penitents  in 
the  various  classes.  St.  Vincent  informs  us  that  there  were 
between  120  and  140  in  1 655.  Of  these  about  thirty  belonged 
to  the  first  class.  Experience,  however,  taught  St.  Vincent 
to  disapprove  the  method  of  admitting  some  to  vows.  Those 
thus  favored,  he  said,  become  conceited  and  disdain  the 
second  class.  These  latter,  in  turn,  conceive  such  an  aversion 
for  the  former  that,  at  the  least  fault  committed  by  them, 
they  murmur  and  complain  bitterly  against  them.  And  these 
are  not  yet  sufficiently  grounded  in  virtue  to  bear  affronts 
meekly.  The  consequence  is  that  there  is  division  and  con¬ 
tinual  wrangling  in  the  house,  “and  if  the  Sisters  of  Sainte- 
Marie  [the  religious  put  in  charge  in  1629]  did  not  direct 
them  to  do  what  they  could  to  moderate  all  things, ”  con¬ 
tinues  St.  Vincent,  “this  house  would  long  since  have  been 
turned  topsy-turvy.”  St.  Vincent,  .therefore,  profiting  by 
the  experience  thus  gained,  endeavored  to  limit  the  first 
class  more  and  more  with  the  ultimate  intention  of  abolish¬ 
ing  it  entirely.29 

The  Mother  Superioress,  a  religious  of  the  Visitation, 
seems  to  have  had  supreme  direction  and  even  St.  Vincent 
did  not  urge  his  position  to  influence  her  in  her  work.  He 
tells  us  in  one  of  his  letters  that  he  sought  admission  for  an 


20  Lett.,  iii.,  136,  No.  mo,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Feb.  19,  1655. 

i 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


251 


unfortunate  girl,  but,  as  he  expresses  it,  “the  mother  refused 
me  completely.”  He  did  not  insist  but  tried  to  have  her 
admitted  elsewhere.30 

An  important  factor  in  the  success  of  the  institution 
were  the  able  and  virtuous  confessors  whom  St.  Vincent 
always  endeavored  to  procure  for  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
inmates.  They  contributed  much  to  the  maintenance  of 
peace  and  good  order  and  the  observance  of  obedience.  The 
Ladies  of  Charity  of  the  Court  contributed  to  its  financial 
support. 

B.  St.  Vincent  and  the  Daughters  of  Providence 

Mile.  Pollalion  (Marie  de  Lumague),  a  devout  widow, 
soon  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  left  the  court,  where 
she  had  been  maid  of  honor  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  and 
governess  of  her  children,  to  begin  a  life  of  charity  under  the 
direction  of  St.  Vincent.  She  chose  as  her  special  field  work 
among  fallen  and  endangered  girls.  In  1630  she  founded 
a  religious  community,  the  Daughters  of  Providence,  at 
Fontenay-aux-Roses,  whose  special  purpose  was  to  receive 
and  educate  young  girls  desirous  of  escaping  the  dangers 
of  the  world.  They  soon  moved  to  Charonne,  near  Paris,  and 
in  1652  took  up  their  permanent  residence  in  the  latter  city. 

Mile.  Pollalion  was  among  the  ladies  of  the  nobility  who 
formed  the  conference  of  charity  of  the  Hotel-Dieu,  at  Paris 
in  June,  1634,  and  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  Ladies  of 
Charity  of  the  Court,  organized  in  1635,  was,  as  their  con¬ 
stitutions  say,  to  render  assistance  to  “the  little  girls  of 
Mile.  Pollalion.31 

With  the  assistance  of  St.  Vincent  and  the  support  of 
the  Ladies  of  Charity,  Mile.  Pollalion  founded  the  Semi¬ 
nary  of  the  Daughters  of  Providence  at  Paris  in  1643,  for 
the  protection  and  education  of  young  girls  whom  personal 
beauty,  poverty,  or  parental  neglect  exposed  to  moral  peril. 
It  was  also  the  purpose  of  the  institution  to  train  the  better 
qualified  of  its  wards  to  become  educators  of  other  girls 
similarly  pressed. 


30  Lett.,  ii.,  141,  No.  630,  To  Mile,  le  Gras  (1649). 

31  Lett.,  i.,  90.  No.  82,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  June,  1634;  Coste,  98;  Lett,  ct 
-Confer.  (Sup pi),  475. 


252 


THE  CHARITIES 


Though  Mile.  Pollalion  interested  herself  in  fallen 
girls  in  the  beginning  of  her  charitable  activities,  she  seems 
afterwards  to  have  restricted  herself,  and  also  the  scope 
of  the  seminary,  to  girls  in  danger.  In  a  letter  dated  July 
24,  1642,  St.  Vincent  informs  us  that  she  “would  not  know 
how  to  take  these  poor  women ;  she  [will  look  after]  those 
who  are  in  danger  of  going  astray,  and  not  those  who  have 
already  gone.”32 


C.  Special  Protective  Work 

At  all  times  St.  Vincent  made  use  of  the  house  of  Mile, 
le  Gras  as  a  place  of  safety  or  retreat  where  girls  and  women 
solicited  to  sin  or  in  danger  of  falling  were  received.  Here 
they  were  advised  and  encouraged  and  made  a  spiritual  re¬ 
treat,  generally  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Mile,  le 
Gras,  while  waiting  to  find  a  place  or  position  of  security. 

But  it  was  especially  during  the  devastation  of  the  north¬ 
ern  provinces  and  the  turmoils  of  the  Fronde  that  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  had  ample  opportunity  of  practicing  this  work  of  spir¬ 
itual  mercy.  Some  girls,  reduced  to  poverty  and  starvation, 
were  on  the  verge  of  selling  their  virtue  to  preserve  their 
lives.  Others  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  caves  to  escape 
the  insolence  of  the  soldiers  who  overran  the  country.  St. 
Vincent  had  his  helpers,  members  of  his  Congregation  of 
the  Mission,  in  the  provinces,  who  kept  him  informed  by 
letter  of  the  conditions  there. 

Where  poverty  was  the  main  factor  of  the  evil,  he  re¬ 
lieved  the  distress  by  having  food  and  clothing  sent  thither. 
A  letter  written  in  1651  to  St.  Vincent  from  these  districts - 
says :  “An  alms  which  you  sent  us  during  Holy  Week  has 
removed  a  number  of  girls  from  imminent  danger  of  losing 
their  honor.”33 

Another  appeal  for  help  addressed  from  the  provinces 
in  1654  states  that  even  the  daughters  of  noblemen  of  the 
frontiers  of  Champagne  were  reduced  to  extremities.  It 
was  thought  most  expedient  to  remove  them  entirely  from  • 
danger.  Thirty  of  them  had  already  been  sent  to  the  com- 

32  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  132,  No.  3013,  To  M.  Pierre  Duchesne, 
Confrere,  Supr.  at  Crecy. 

33  Abelly,  ii.,  520;  Idem,  iii.,  419. 


1 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


253 


munity  of  the  Daughters  of  Saint  Martha  at  Rheims,  where 
they  were  being  “instructed  in  the  fear  of  God  and  trained 
to  busy  themselves  with  some  little  work.”  They  were 
clothed  and  fed  with  the  alms  forwarded  from  Paris.  There 
were  still  many  others  in  similar  distress  awTaiting  relief. 

When  the  missionary  who  had  been  commissioned  with 
the  distribution  of  the  alms  in  Lorraine  informed  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  of  the  great  number  of  girls  there,  some  of  prominent 
families,  who  were  without  means  of  support  and  protec¬ 
tion,  Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity  resolved  to  have 
them  brought  to  Paris.  The  missionary  accordingly  made 
this  known  in  the  cities  through  which  he  passed,  with  the 
result  that  “a  very  large  number  presented  themselves.” 
It  was  impossible  to  take  them  all.  A  selection  was  made 
of  those  in  the  greatest  peril.  Of  these  about  160  were  taken 
to  Paris  at  different  times  and  lodged  at  the  house  of  Mile, 
le  Gras.  The  families  of  the  city  were  then  informed  and 
those  in  need  of  maids  or  servants  applied  here.  In  this 
manner  the  girls  received  safe  and  honorable  employment. 
Wherever  possible,  they  were  placed  in  families  who  were 
known  and  virtuous.34 

During  the  Fronde  of  1652  large  numbers  of  women  and 
children  fled  before  the  approaching  armies  and  sought  pro¬ 
tection  in  Paris.  At  the  advice  of  St.  Vincent,  the  Ladies 
of  Charity  took  charge  of  eight  or  nine  hundred  of  these. 
They  divided  the  refugees  into  several  bands  and  lodged 
each  band  in  a  separate  house  suited  to  the  purpose.  Here 
they  received  the  necessary  bodily  assistance  and  at  the  same 
time  were  instructed  in  matters  of  religion  and  were  urged 
to  make  general  Confessions.35 

We  learn  St.  Vincent’s  attitude  toward  work  among  fallen 
women  from  a  letter  he  wrote  to  Mother  Mary  Euphrosine 
Turpin,  Feb.  23,  1637,  in  which  he  urged  her  to  assume  the 
superiorship  of  the  institution  of  St.  Magdalen.  He  calls 
it  a  “work  very  holy  in  itself  since  it  consists  in  giving  a 
helping  hand  to  souls  who  are  on  the  way  of  perdition” ;  it 
means  “to  fill  the  office  of  second  redeemer  in  their  behalf 


34  Idem,  ii.,  501,  507;  Idem,  iii.,  419. 

35  Idem,  i.,  286;  Lett.,  ii.,  438,  44T. 


254 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  to  lead  them,  as  it  were,  by  the  hand  into  the  glory 
which  our  Lord  has  gained  for  them  by  His  precious  Blood ; 
a  work  so  great  before  God  that  He  has  considered  it  worthy 
of  His  Son  and  alone  capable  of  drawing  Him  to  earth.”  To 
the  possible  objection  that  such  work  was  not  becoming  for 
the  Daughters  of  Sainte-Marie,  of  which  community  the 
Mother  in  question  was  a  member,  he  answers  that  “the 
work  for  the  salvation  of  souls  is  proper  to  the  children  of 
God,”  and  that,  since  our  Lord  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  have 
shown  favor  to  la  Madeleine,  “we  cannot  doubt  that  it  is 
becoming  for  the  Daughters  of  Sainte-Marie.”30 

3I!  Lett.,  i.,  162-5,  No.  160. 


CHAPTER  IV 


The  Relief  of  Poverty 

All  the  activities  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  were,  with  a  very 
few  exceptions,  directed  in  some  sense  toward  the  relief  of 
poverty.  In  the  cases  thus  far  considered  the  distress  of 
poverty  was  aggravated  by  other  factors,  such  as  sickness, 
insanity  and  youth.  The  present  chapter  will  be  devoted  to 
the  consideration  of  Vincent’s  efforts  to  relieve  distress  in 
cases  where  poverty  was  the  main,  when  not  the  sole,  factor. 

1.  Men's  Confraternities 

Apart  from  the  men  organized  under  the  leadership  of 
M.  de  Renti,  whom  we  shall  consider  in  the  following  para¬ 
graph,  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  organized  charitable  confraterni¬ 
ties  of  men  only  as  counterparts  of  the  women’s  organiza¬ 
tions  of  the  towns  and  villages.  [See  pp.  165-9.]  The  women 
devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  the  care  of  the  sick  poor, 
the  men  to  the  relief  of  the  healthy  poor.  The  two  branches 
were,  in  reality,  independent  organizations  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  a  common  rector.  Their  points  of  contact  were  three. 
The  officers  of  the  men  together  with  the  rector  admitted  the 
sick  to  the  care  of  the  confraternity;  the  men  were  obliged  to 
“place  in  the  hands  of  the  treasurer  of  the  women  the  fourth 
part  of  their  annual  revenue  and  more,  if  necessary,  in  case 
the  collections  made  bv  the  women”  did  not  suffice,  which 
could  “be  ascertained  by  the  rector  as  superior  of  both  associ¬ 
ations”  ;  and  finally,  the  officers  of  the  men  were  to  keep  in 
touch  with  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  women’s  branch,  bv 
attending  the  meetings  of  the  latter  when  the  accounts  were 
rendered.1 


1  This  paragraph  is  based  on  a  study  of  the  following  constitutions : 
Reglement  dc  la  confrerie  de  charite  d’hommes,  Folleville,  Oct.  23,  1620; 
Regl.  dc  la  conf.  de  la  char.  df  homines  ct  de  femmes,  Courboing,  June  19, 
1622;  Regl.  pour  line  conf.  dc  char,  d’hommes  el  de  femmes  et  pour  organi¬ 
sation  d’une  manufacture,  found  in  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  pp.  412-33; 
and  a  constitution  for  the  Union  of  a  Conference  of  Charity  and  a  Society 
of  the  Holy  Name,  found  in  Lett.,  i.,  19  sqq. 

255 


256 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  constitutions  establish  two  years  as  the  duration  of 
the  different  offices.  The  officers  are  the  rector,  the  presi¬ 
dent,  vice  president  and  visitor.  One  constitution  demands 
that  the  three  officers  be  not  elected  by  the  members  in  gen¬ 
eral,  but  that  the  confraternity  choose  twelve  of  its  members 
who,  in  turn,  elect  the  three  officers  from  their  midst.  The 
nine  remaining  members  are  to  act  as  assistants  to  the  three 
officers  and  the  rector,  who  form  the  board  of  directors.  Else¬ 
where  we  find  the  officers  of  the  men’s  confraternity  elected 
in  the  ordinary  manner  with  no  mention  made  of  the  nine 
assistants.  One  constitution,  however,  provides  for  two  extra 
assistants,  or  consultors.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  bursar, 
or  procurator,  common  to  the  women’s  organizations. 

The  president  and  the  rector  equally  hold  the  supreme 
power  in  the  confraternity.  Both  preside  at  the  meetings, 
conjointly  enforce  the  rules  of  the  association  and  execute 
the  resolutions  taken  at  the  meetings. 

The  treasurer  holds  one  of  the  keys  of  the  money  safe, 
the  president  the  other.  One  constitution  demands  even 
three  keys,  to  be  held  by  different  officers.  The  treasurer 
cannot  open  the  safe  but  in  the  presence  of  the  rector 
and  the  president,  or  at  least  one  of  them.  He  is  allowed  to 
have  in  hand  only  as  much  money  as  is  necessary  for  one 
month.  He  employs  the  money  according  to  the  orders  of  the 
directors  and  renders  an  annual  account  in  the  presence  of 
the  directors,  the  nine  assistants  or  the  members,  and  certain 
officials  of  the  city.  It  is  also  the  duty  of  the  treasurer  to 
copy  the  resolutions  taken  at  the  meetings  into  a  special  book. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  visitor  to  seek  out  the  bashful  poor, 
the  widows,  the  orphans,  the  civil  and  criminal  prisoners,  and 
all  other  persons  in  distress,  in  order  to  visit  and  console  them 
and  to  make  a  report  of  their  case  at  the  following  meeting. 
He  then  gives  the  relief  as  ordered  by  the  directors.  In 
urgent  cases,  however,  he  refers  the  matter  either  to  the 
rector  or  to  the  president  and  follows  their  instructions.  The 
visitor  is  also  commissioned  to  sell  the  lambs  and  the  wool 
sheared  from  the  sheep  that  are  kept  by  the  members  of  the 
association  (cf.  Revenues,  p.  129),  and  to  deposit  the  money 
thus  obtained  with  the  treasurer.  It  is  his  further  duty  to 
see  that  the  poor  who  are  assisted  by  the  confraternity  attend 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


257 


the  catechetical  instructions  given  by  the  rector  and  that  they 
approach  the  sacraments  at  stated  intervals.  (Cf.  The  Su¬ 
pernatural  in  Social  Service,  p.  93.)  One  of  the  constitutions 
-makes  him  at  the  same  time  the  sacristan  of  the  confrater¬ 
nity  with  the  commission  to  have  the  chapel  in  readiness  for 
services  on  the  day  of  the  monthly  meeting  and  on  solemn 
feast  days. 

Only  the  directors  attend  the  meetings  at  which  the 
affairs  of  the  confraternity  are  discussed.  The  constitution 
of  Folleville,  which  provides  for  nine  assistants,  makes  the 
further  provision  that,  when  the  vote  of  the  officers  is  equally 
divided,  the  assistants,  or  those  of  them  who  are  near  at  hand 
up  to  the  number  of  five,  be  called  in  to  decide  the  vote. 

In  one  of  the  constitutions  we  also  find  provision  made  for 
an  “associated  servant.”  He  is  elected  from  among  the  mem¬ 
bers  by  the  four  directors  for  a  term  of  two  years.  It  is  his 
office  to  summon  the  directors  and  the  members  to  the  meet¬ 
ings  at  the  bidding  of  the  rector  or  the  president.  He  is  also 
to  perform  any  other  little  duty  the  confraternity  may  ask 
of  him.  If  he  devote  more  than  two  hours  of  labor  to  the 
business  of  the  confraternity,  he  is  to  receive  a  reasonable 
pay,  if  he  be  poor  and  desires  it. 

There  is  no  distinction  made  as  to  membership,  except 
that  the  applicants  be  honest  and  virtuous,  and,  to  avoid  con¬ 
fusion,  that  the  number  be  limited. 

The  officers,  together  with  the  nine  assistants  only,  or, 
as  the  other  constitutions  prescribe,  with  all  the  members, 
renew  their  purpose  annually  in  the  presence  of  the  rector 
to  observe  the  constitution  of  the  association  and  to  do  all 
in  their  power  to  assure  its  conservation  and  to  promote  its 
activities. 

The  children  that  fall  to  the  care  of  the  confraternity  are 
to  be  placed  in  a  trade  at  a  competent  age,  the  impotent  poor 
are  to  receive  full  support  from  the  confraternity,  while  those 
who  can  gain  a  part  of  their  livelihood  can  expect  only  the 
other  part  from  the  confraternity.  (Cf.  The  Needy,  p.  119; 
Relief,  pp.  155-61 ;  Industrial  Training,  pp.  230-4.) 

If  we  compare  the  men’s  branch  of  these  confraternities 
with  that  of  the  women,  we  find  that  the  latter  were  far  more 
successful.  We  need  but  quote  the  words  of  St.  Vincent 


258 


THE  CHARITIES 


himself  on  this  point.  He  writes:  “The  men  and  the  women 
together  do  not  agree  in  the  matter  of  administration ;  the 
former  wish  to  arrogate  it  entirely  to  themselves2  and  the 
latter  cannot  tolerate  it.  The  conferences  of  Joigny  and 
Montmirail  were  governed  in  the  beginning  by  both  sexes 
.  .  . ;  but  because  of  the  common  purse  it  was  found 
necessary  to  remove  the  men.”3  In  another  letter  of  a  much 
earlier  date,  he  makes  the  emphatic  statement  :  “Experience 
teaches  us  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  women  do  not 
depend  on  the  men  in  this  matter,  especially  as  regards  the 
purse.”4 

2.  M.  de  Renti i5 

Among  the  many  who  were  forced  to  flee  from  Lorraine 
and  take  refuge  in  Paris  during  the  Thirty  Years’  War  were 
a  number  of  socially  prominent  and  noble  individuals  of  both 
sexes  and  even  entire  families.  They  were  enabled  to  eke 
out  a  meagre  existence  for  a  time  with  the  money  obtained 
from  the  sale  of  the  little  belongings  they  were  able  to  rescue 
from  the  debris  of  their  devastated  property.  When  this 
source  of  revenue  was  exhausted  they  fell  into  extreme 
misery,  for  they  were  unaccustomed  to  earn  a  livelihood  and 
were  more  ashamed  to  beg  it. 

In  the  spring  months  of  1640,  the  situation  was  called  to 
the  attention  of  St.  Vincent.  With  his  characteristic  sym¬ 
pathy,  he  exclaimed :  “Yes,  it  is  befitting  to  assist  and  relieve 
these  poor  noblemen  in  honor  of  our  Lord  who  was  very  noble 
and  at  the  same  time  very  poor.”  But  he  did  not  wish  to 
impose  new  burdens  on  the  organizations  already  working 
to  their  full  capacity.  Accordingly,  after  some  thought,  he 
deemed  it  a  worthy  object  of  the  charity  of  prominent  men, 

2  St.  Vincent  gives  other  proofs  of  being  wary  of  this  tendency  on  the 
part  of  the  men.  He  does  not  wish,  for  example,  that  an  ecclesiastic  be 
given  the  direction  of  la  Madeleine  for  fear  that  he  assume  greater  authority 
“than  is  expedient,”  which  his  successors  then  will  perhaps  claim  as  a  right. 
Lett.,  ii.,  142,  No.  631,  To  the  Superioress  of  la  Madeleine  (1649). 

3  Ibid.,  270,  No.  735,  To  M.  Blatiron  at  Genoa,  Sept.  2,  1650. 

4  Lett.,  i.,  153,  No.  1 5 1 ,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Oct.  31,  1636. 

5  Gaston  de  Renti,  born  at  Beny,  in  the  diocese  of  Bayeux,  in  1611,  was 
one  of  the  most  worthy  and  active  co-operators  of  St.  Vincent.  In  his 
castle  at  Beny  he  served  and  instructed  the  poor  in  person.  When  at  Paris 
he  visited  the  Hotel-Dieu  daily  and  went  every  night  to  give  religious 
instructions  to  the  travelers  at  Saint-Gervais.  He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


259 


and  determined  to  organize  a  number  of  such  for  the  purpose. 
He  called  together  seven  or  eight  lords  and  other  men  of  dis¬ 
tinction  residing  at  Paris  and  spoke  so  efficaciously  of  the 
importance  and  merit  of  this  good  work  that  they  resolved  to 
undertake  it  with  M.  de  Renti  at  their  head. 

Some  of  them  were  immediately  commissioned  to  visit  the 
poor  nobles  in  their  rooms  in  order  to  ascertain  more  in  detail 
their  actual  needs,  to  register  their  names  and  to  learn  the 
number  of  persons  in  each  family.  A  report  was  made  at 
the  following  meeting,  the  matter  discussed,  and  an  assess¬ 
ment  made  on  all  present  whereby  sufficient  means  were  ob¬ 
tained  to  furnish  relief  for  a  month. 

Thereafter  they  met  on  the  first  Sunday  of  every  month 
at  Saint-Lazare.  The  organization  had  no  standing  treasury. 
The  members  took  turns  visiting  the  families.  They  showed 
them  every  respect,  consoled  them,  assisted  them  otherwise 
in  their  affairs  wherever  they  could,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
ascertained  the  particular  needs  of  each.  At  each  monthly 
meeting  a  collection  was  taken  up  by  assessment  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  these  needs. 

One  of  the  lords  of  this  organization  testified  that  “M. 
Vincent  was  always  the  first  to  give ;  he  opened  his  heart  and 
his  purse,  so  that  when  anything  failed  he  contributed  all 
he  had  and  deprived  himself  of  things  necessary  for  himself 
in  order  to  complete  the  work  begun.  Once  even,  when  300 
livres  were  still  required  to  make  up  a  considerable  sum,  he 
gave  them  immediately;  and  it  was  known  that  this  was  the 
money  given  him  by  a  charitable  person  that  he  might  have 
for  himself  another  horse  better  than  his  own,  which  had 
fallen  under  him  several  times  from  weakness,  for  it  was 
very  old.  But  he  preferred  to  take  the  risk  of  being  injured 
than  to  neglect  to  assist  persons  whom  he  believed  to  be  in 
need.”6 

This  work  continued  for  seven  or  eight  years.  When 
comparative  peace  had  been  restored  to  Lorraine  many  of 
the  families  returned  to  their  homes.  St.  Vincent  provided 
them  not  only  with  the  necessaries  of  the  journey,  but 

c  Cf.  Abelly,  i.,  247-50;  Idem,  ii.,  503;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  484-5; 
Lett.,  i.,  323,  No.  296,  To  M.  Lambert,  Confrere  at  Richelieu,  July  22,  1640; 
Ibid.,  334,  No.  299,  To  M.  Codoing,  Confrere  at  Annecy,  July  26,  1640. 


260 


THE  CHARITIES 


also  with  sufficient  means  to  sustain  them  for  some  time  after 
their  return.  Those  who  remained  at  Paris  continued  to 
receive  assistance  throughout. 

At  the  same  time  there  were  in  Paris  a  number  of  English, 
Scotch  and  Irish  nobles  who  had  been  obliged  to  leave  their 
respective  countries  on  account  of  their  religion.  The  same 
organization  that  assisted  the  nobles  of  Lorraine  assisted  also 
these.  The  work  was  carried  on  until  St.  Vincent’s  death — 
a  period  of  about  twenty  years. 

3.  The  Ladies  of  Charity 

In  the  course  of  this  treatise  mention  has  several  times 
been  made  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity.  They  occupied  them¬ 
selves  with  a  great  variety  of  charitable  works,  but  their 
most  extensive  was  the  relief  of  the  devastated  provinces. 
Hence  we  shall  discuss  their  organization  here  as  a  Poverty 
Relief  association. 

The  first  confraternity  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  was 
organized  in  1629  to  serve  the  poor  sick  of  the  Parish  of 
Saint-Sauveur  (Cf.  Visiting  Nursing,  pp.  169-71).  In  1634  a 
second  confraternity  was  organized  to  visit  the  poor  sick  of 
the  Hotel-Dieu  (see  pp.  172-9).  This  latter  soon  expanded 
in  scope  and  membership  so  as  to  include  within  its  ranks 
more  than  two  hundred  of  the  highest  nobility  of  France,  and 
among  them  the  queen  mother,  who  rendered  personal 
service  or  financial  support  to  “all  the  good  works  instituted 
by  the  women  in  this  century,”7  though  the  visiting  of  the 
sick  at  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  the  care  of  the  foundlings  ever 
remained  their  prime  charges. 

Of  these  confraternities  St.  Vincent  writes  in  1656: 
“There  are  two  associations  of  ladies  at  Paris  who  have 
obliged  themselves  to  assist  the  poor.  The  one  comprises 
those  of  the  parishes  who  take  care  of  the  sick  and  who  have 
some  kind  of  rule.  .  .  .  The  other  .  .  .  has  no  written  rule 
and  the  charity  of  the  members  is  not  restricted,  but 
extends  much  further  in  different  places  and  in  several 
manners  according  to  the  public  needs.”8  And,  in  fact,  al¬ 
though  the  confraternity  of  which  the  Ladies  of  the  Hotel- 

7  Projet  de  Rcglement ,  Coste,  98. 

8  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28,  1656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


261 


Dieu  formed  the  nucleus,  had  functioned  on  a  thoroughly 
organized  basis  from  the  beginning,  it  was  not  until  1660, 
or  twenty-six  years  after  its  foundation,  that  it  was  given  a 
definite  written  constitution.  We  find,  it  is  true,  a  constitu¬ 
tion  for  the  Ladies  of  Court  dated  1635. 9  But,  in  the  light  of 
St.  Vincent’s  statement  quoted  above,  we  prefer  to  discredit 
this  date  and  follow  Coste  (p.  97,  n.  2),  who  considers  it  an 
incomplete  constitution  drafted  between  1658  and  1660. 

According  to  this  constitution,10  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of 
the  Court  formed  an  independent  confraternity  whose  main 
purpose  was  to  study  the  needs  of  the  various  works  in  which 
the  other  Ladies  of  Charity  were  engaged  and  to  assist  them 
financially.  The  membership  is  restricted  to  “the  sacred 
person  of  the  queen  and  a  small  fixed  and  limited  number 
of  ladies  whom  it  shall  please  her  to  choose  for  this  purpose.” 
Nothing  is  determined  concerning  the  officers  further  than 
that  “the  queen  shall  have  the  perpetual  direction  of  the  said 
company.” 

The  members  shall  be  divided  into  committees  of  three, 
each  of  which  shall  be  assigned  for  a  year  to  a  separate  work 
of  the  Ladies  of  Charity.  The  works  enumerated  in  the 
constitution  are  the  Hotel-Dieu,  the  foundlings,  the  prisoners, 
the  little  girls  of  Mile.  Pollalion,  the  orphans  of  Mile,  de 
Lestang,  the  Daughters  of  Charity  of  the  parishes,  the  girls 
of  la  Madeleine ,  “and  all  the  good  works  instituted  by  the 
women  in  this  century.”  After  the  lapse  of  the  year,  the 
various  committees  shall  be  given  different  fields  of  labor. 

Meetings  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Friday  of  each  month. 
During  the  first  half  hour,  “they  shall  converse  humbly  and 
devoutly  ...  on  the  things  which  our  Lord  shall  have 
given  them  at  prayer  on  the  morning  of  the  day  of  the  meet¬ 
ing.”  The  Ladies  shall  then  report  in  order  the  difficulties 
and  the  needs  which  they  have  found  in  their  respective  fields 
of  labor.  After  discussing  the  questions  the  queen  “shall 
collect  the  opinions  of  each  of  them  and  recommend  what  she 
shall  find  best  before  God.”  Her  recommendations  shall  be 
registered  in  a  book  and  executed  by  the  Ladies  of  the  respec¬ 
tive  departments. 

9  Lett,  et  Confer.  (SuppL),  475-6. 

10  Coste,  97-100;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (SuppL),  475-6. 


262 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  details  of  the  various  problems  shall  not  be  brought 
before  this  general  assembly ;  but  the  members  of  each  com¬ 
mittee  shall  hold  a  previous  meeting  in  which  they  shall  dis¬ 
cuss  the  special  difficulties  and  needs  of  their  department. 
Only  the  results  of  their  discussions  shall  be  proposed  to  the 
general  meeting. 

All  irrelevant  matters,  and  especially  affairs  of  the  state, 
are  to  be  excluded  from  the  meetings  and  the  members  are 
forbidden  to  take  occasion  at  the  meetings  to  promote  their 
own  interests. 

The  members  shall  spend  at  least  a  half  hour  in  medita¬ 
tion  daily  and  also  hear  Mass,  read  a  chapter  of  a  spiritual 
book  and  make  an  examination  of  conscience  every  day,  and 
receive  the  sacraments  at  least  every  week.  They  are  ad¬ 
monished  to  practice  charity  among  themselves,  visiting  and 
consoling  one  another  when  sick,  and  communicating  for 
the  intention  of  the  sick  members  and  for  the  repose  of  the 
souls  of  the  deceased.  Finally,  they  are  told  to  honor  “the 
silence  of  our  Lord  in  all  things  that  regard  the  said  company, 
for  the  Prince  of  the  world  rejoices  at  holy  things  that  are 
divulged  in  the  world.” 

The  constitution  of  1660 11  regulates  the  activities  of  the 
other  Ladies  of  Charity.  It  is  of  special  interest  since  it  was 
drafted  by  St.  Vincent  in  his  last  days,  and  hence  embodies 
the  experience  of  his  long  charitable  career. 

It  prescribes  nothing  new  as  to  membership.  Widows, 
married  women,  and  young  ladies  shall  be  admitted  as  in 
the  ordinary  confraternities.  The  officers,  too,  shall  be 
three  in  number,  as  usual,  viz.,  the  superior  and  her  two 
assistants,  who,  “together  with  a  priest  of  the  Mission  shall 
have  the  full  administration  of  the  company.”  The  officers, 
however,  shall  be  chosen  from  among  the  widows  and  young 
ladies;  the  married  women  are  expressly  excluded.  This 
restriction  is  undoubtedly  made  in  order  that  the  officers 
be  not  hampered  with  household  duties.  The  term  of  office 
shall  be  of  three  years’  duration.  The  three  officers,  how¬ 
ever,  shall  not  be  replaced  simultaneously,  but  the  elections 
shall  be  so  arranged  that  one  of  the  officers,  beginning  with 


11  Coste,  ioo-6. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


263 


the  second  assistant,  shall  be  replaced,  when  not  reelected, 
annually. 

Eight  or  ten  days  before  the  election  of  an  officer,  the 
officers  and  the  priest  shall,  in  a  special  meeting,  select  two 
candidates.  These  shall  then  be  proposed  at  the  general 
meeting  and  one  of  them  elected  by  majority  vote.  A 
further  purpose  of  this  preliminary  meeting  of  the  officers 
shall  be  to  examine  the  financial  accounts  and  see  that  they 
are  in  readiness  to  be  presented  to  the  general  meeting. 

The  superior  shall  see  to  it  that  the  constitution  is  ob¬ 
served,  and  that  each  member  performs  her  duty  well,  ad¬ 
monishing  those  who  fail.  She  shall  admit  to  the  confra¬ 
ternity  the  applicants  who  are  known  to  be  virtuous  and 
both  willing  and  able  to  undertake  the  exercises  of  charity 
and  to  submit  to  the  regulation  of  the  company.  She  shall 
notify  the  company  of  a  sick  member  that  the  others  may 
pray  for  her  and  visit  her.  She  herself  shall  visit  those 
who  desire  it.  If  a  member  dies,  she  shall  inform  the  others 
that  each  may  receive  Holy  Communion  and  have  a  Mass 
said  for  the  repose  of  her  soul.  She  is  also  empowered  to 
assemble  the  members  when  she  deems  it  expedient.  “In 
short,  she  shall  animate  the  body  of  the  company  and  gov¬ 
ern  it  with  the  advice  of  the  said  priest  of  the  Mission  and 
of  her  two  assistants.” 

The  first  assistant  shall  act  as  counsellor  to  the  superior 
and  represent  her  in  her  absence.  She  shall  receive  and 
keep  the  money  destined  for  the  collation  of  the  sick  at  the 
Hotel-Dieu  [see  pp.  177-8],  and  for  the  other  charities  of 
the  company,  except  that  for  the  foundlings.  She  shall 
render  an  annual  account,  but  only  to  the  company. 

The  second  assistant  likewise  shall  act  as  counsellor  to 
the  superior  and  assume  her  office  if  both  she  and  the  first 
assistant  are  absent.  She  shall  keep  an  account  of  the 
money  destined  for  the  foundlings,  and  shall  also  render  an 
annual  account  to  the  members  of  the  company  only. 

There  shall  always  be  Daughters  of  Charity,  affiliated 
with  the  work  of  the  Ladies,  to  have  care  of  the  nourishment 
and  education  of  the  foundlings  and  to  assist  them  in  their 
activities  at  the  Hotel-Dieu. 

The  constitution  provided  also  for  funds.  The  members, 


264 


THE  CHARITIES 


it  states,  shall  contribute  monthly  according  to  their  devo¬ 
tion  and,  at  the  same  time,  endeavor  to  have  others  con¬ 
tribute,  “whether  it  be  money,  or  linen,  or  bedsteads,  clothes 
and  sweetmeats,  or  other  things  which  can  serve  both  for  the 
poor  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  for  the  foundlings  and  for  the 
other  works  of  charity  of  which  the  company  shall  have 
charge.” 

The  constitution  prescribes  a  weekly  meeting12  to  be  held 
at  the  home  of  the  superior  or  at  some  other  designated  place. 
“The  first  to  arrive  shall  occupy  themselves  humbly  with 
some  thing  of  edification  while  awaiting  the  others.”  They 
shall  report  in  order  to  the  assembly  what  they  have  done, 
the  difficulties  they  have  encountered,  and  the  successes  they 
have  met  with,  each  concerning  the  particular  work  in  which 
she  has  been  employed.  They  shall  also  propose  the  new 
needs  discovered.  These  shall  then  be  discussed  by  all  pres¬ 
ent,  after  which  a  vote  shall  be  taken.  The  result  shall  be 
recorded  in  a  register  and  executed  by  those  who  shall  be 
designated  therefor. 

The  constitution  then  gives  the  practical  advice  to  the 
members  never  to  interrupt  the  speaker  at  the  meetings,  to 
express  their  thoughts  on  any  given  topic  briefly,  and  always 
to  act  out  of  “pure  love  of  God  regarding  only  the  greatest 
good  to  be  done  and  not  the  places  and  the  persons  recom¬ 
mended.” 

The  members  of  this  confraternity  have  the  same  spirit¬ 
ual  exercises  as  the  Ladies  of  the  Court  except  that  they  are 
required  to  approach  the  sacraments  at  least  once  a  year 
instead  of  weekly.  But  they  are  asked  to  receive  Holy 
Communion  on  the  Saturday  of  Ember  Days  “in  order  that 
it  may  please  God  to  give  good  priests  to  His  Church  and 
new  blessings  to  the  Company.”  A  prudent  silence  regard¬ 
ing  the  affairs  of  the  confraternity  is  also  imposed  upon 
them  as  upon  the  Ladies  of  the  Court. 

The  concluding  provision  is  peculiar  to  this  constitu¬ 
tion.  “And  in  order  that  it  may  please  God  to  perpetuate 


12  This  is  the  only  constitution  that  demands  regular  meetings  more  fre¬ 
quently  than  once  a  month.  This  peculiarity  owes  its  origin  to  the  fact  that 
weekly  meetings  came  into  vogue  during  the  relief  of  the  provinces  and 
were  then  continued. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


265 


the  company/’  it  reads,  “the  Ladies  shall  during  their  lives 
dispose  one  of  their  relatives,  or  another  who  possesses  the 
requisite  qualities,  to  succeed  them  in  the  practice  of  these 
works  of  mercy,  and,  after  the  officers  shall  have  accepted 
her,  they  shall  present  her  to  the  ordinary  assembly.”13 

This  division  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  became  the  nursery 
from  which  a  number  of  Ladies  went  forth  to  engage  in, 
and  develop,  special  fields  of  charity.  Thus,  for  example, 
Mme.  de  Lamoignon  organized  the  society  for  the  prisoners, 
Mile.  Pollalion  devoted  her  activities  to  the  reclamation  and 
preservation  of  young  girls,  and  Mile,  de  Lestang  founded 
an  orphanage.11 

Six  Ladies  attended  the  preliminary  meeting  at  which 
this  confraternity  was  launched  in  1634. 13  But  within  a 
very  short  time  St.  Vincent  could  say  that  there  were  be¬ 
tween  a  hundred  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  comprised  within 
its  ranks.16  The  number  for  a  time  exceeded  even  two  hun¬ 
dred.  But  many  of  these  had  joined  the  enterprise  more  as 
a  novelty  and  a  matter  of  fashion  than  out  of  a  sense  of  the 
obligations  of  Christian  charity.  They  deserted  the  ranks 
with  the  abatement  of  their  first  enthusiasm  and  especially 
when  faced  with  the  great  sacrifices  demanded  of  them 
during  the  relief  of  the  provinces.  Moreover,  many  of  them 
were  called  away  by  death  and  none  were  found  to  replace 
them.  By  1656,  the  membership  had  dwindled  to  forty  or 
fifty.17 


13  V  e  find  first  mention  of  this  manner  of  soliciting  new  members  in  the 
conference  of  St.  Vincent  at  the  general  meeting  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of 
July  ii,  1657.  We  read  there:  “It  has  for  this  purpose  been  proposed 
before,  that  the  Ladies  some  time  before  their  death,  should  dispose  a 
daughter,  a  sister,  or  a  friend  to  enter  the  company.”  Lett,  ct  Confer. 
(Sup pi),  216.  _ 

14  For  details  concerning  the  activities  of  the  Ladies  in  the  various  fields 
of  charity,  cf.  Visiting  Nursing,  pp.  169-79;  Prison  Work,  pp.  237-8;  The 
Magdalens,  pp.  251-3;  The  Relief  Work  of  the  Provinces,  pp.  278  sqq. ; 
Foundlings,  pp.  199-218. 

15  Lett.,  i.,  90,  No.  82,  To  Mile,  le  Gras,  Tune,  1634. 

16  Ibid.,  87.  No.  76,  To  M.  Du  Coudray  at  Rome,  July  25,  1634. 

17  Coste.  51-2,  161  ;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  205;  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  No. 
1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28.  1656.  Abelly,  in  quoting  the 
conference  of  July  11,  1657,  which  was  given  by  St.  Vincent  at  a  general 
assembly  of  the  Ladies,  states  that  the  membership  at  that  date  was  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  (Abelly,  ii.,  470;  Lett,  et  Confer.  [Suppl.],  205;  Coste,  162). 
This  would  imply  an  increase  of  a  hundred  within  a  year,  which  is  very 
improbable  at  this  period. 


266 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  conferences  of  St.  Vincent  to  these  Ladies  amply 
evidence  the  efforts  he  had  to  make  and  the  motives  he  had 
to  propose,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  remain  at  their  post. 
The  five  conferences  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the 
period  between  1638  and  1647,  all  treat  professedly  of  per¬ 
severing  in  the  works  undertaken.18  He  insists  therein  on 
the  words  of  Christ  that  only  those  who  persevere  to  the 
end  shall  be  saved  (Matt.  24,  13),  and  that  no  one  putting 
his  hand  to  the  plow  and  looking  back  is  fit  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  (Luke  9,  62).  He  recalls  the  words  of  Christ, 
“Depart,  ye  cursed”  (Matt.  25,  41),  and  their  counterpart, 
“Come,  ye  blessed”  (Matt.  25,  34),  which  will  be  determined 
respectively  by  the  omission  or  exercise  of  charity.  He  ex¬ 
tols  charity  which  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  law,  and  lauds 
the  excellence  of  the  work  of  the  Ladies  of  which  God  alone 
can  be  the  author.  He  appeals  to  their  sense  of  shame  by 
reminding  them  that,  if  they  discontinue,  they  will  hear  the 
mocking  words :  “This  man  began  to  build  and  was  not  able 
to  finish”  (Luke  14,  30).  He  proposes  to  them  the  happi¬ 
ness  promised  in  the  beatitude,  “Blessed  are  the  merciful, 
for  they  shall  obtain  mercy”  (Matt.  5,  7).  He  recalls  the 
words  of  Holy  Writ  that  “he  who  will  have  mercy  on  the 
poor,  will  never  be  in  need”  (Prov.  28,  27),  and  assures  them 
that  those  who  practice  charity  may  look  forward  to  a  happy 
death. 

After  the  death  of  St.  Vincent  the  Ladies  continued  their 
labors  along  the  lines  traced  out  by  their  founder  until  dis¬ 
organized  during  the  French  Revolution.  They  were  rees¬ 
tablished,  however,  in  1839  or  1840,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Viscountess  de  le  Vavasseur,  with  the  approbation  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  and  through  the  efforts  of  M.  Jean- 
Baptiste  Etienne,  the  superior  general  of  the  Congregation 
of  the  Mission.19 

4.  Home  for  the  Aged  Poor 

A  rich  burgess  of  Paris,  desiring  to  render  special  service 
to  God  and  having  implicit  confidence  in  the  charity  and 

18  Coste,  Conferences  No.  7-1 1,  pp.  137-150;  and  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sufpl.), 
pp.  230,  223. 

19  Cf.  Coste,  50;  Goyau,  71-2. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


267 


judgment  of  St.  Vincent,  presented  him  with  a  considerable 
sum  of  money  in  1653  that  he  might  use  it  for  some  charita¬ 
ble  purpose  according  to  his  discretion.  The  only  condition 
attached  was  that  the  name  of  the  benefactor  be  never  made 
public. 

After  serious  consideration  and  consultation  with  the 
donor,  St.  Vincent  resolved  to  employ  the  money  in  found¬ 
ing  a  retreat  for  poor  artisans,  who,  on  account  of  old  age 
or  sickness,  could  no  longer  gain  a  livelihood  and  were,  in 
consequence,  reduced  to  beggary.  This  condition  meant 
practically  that  they  were  exposed  to  dangers  both  bodily 
and  spiritually.  And  it  was  this  double  need  that  St.  Vin¬ 
cent,  in  perfect  accord  with  the  desires  of  the  benefactor, 
purposed  to  meet  through  the  new  institution.  The  bene¬ 
factor,  in  fact,  as  quoted  in  a  conference  of  St.  Vincent  to 
the  inmates,  had  especially  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  poor 
in  mind.  The  quotation  reads :  “  ‘Sir,  I  do  not  regard  the 
body,  but  I  regard  the  soul ;  it  is  not  only  to  assure  them 
against  their  misery  that  I  give  my  goods  for  their  main¬ 
tenance,  but  my  purpose  is  that  they  be  instructed  and  that 
one  teach  them  the  things  that  are  necessary  for  their 
salvation/  ”20 

The  benefactor  desired  further  that  the  entire  spiritual 
and  temporal  administration  be  committed  in  perpetuity 
to  the  superior  general  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission. 
The  institution  was  called  the  Hospice  of  the  Name  of  Jesus. 
St.  Vincent  had  the  document  of  foundation  drawn  up  before 
a  notary  public.  The  Archbishop  of  Paris  approved  the 
establishment  with  its  purpose  and  organization,  and  the 
king  confirmed  and  authorized  it  by  his  letters  patent. 

To  execute  his  design,  Vincent  bought  some  property 
and  two  houses  in  the  suburb  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  had  a 
little  chapel  built.  After  furnishing  the  houses  with  beds 
and  the  other  necessary  things,  he  opened  the  doors  to  re¬ 
ceive  forty  poor,  twenty  men  and  a  like  number  of  women. 
He  insisted  on  the  strict  separation  of  the  sexes.  They  were 
lodged  in  separate  buildings,  and  the  chapel  and  dining  room 


20  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  dc  la  Char.,  ii.,  236,  No.  73.  Catechismc  an. r  Pauvres 
Ouvriers  dc  la  Famillc  dc  Jesus. 


268 


THE  CHARITIES 


were  so  arranged  that  the  two  classes  could  assist  at  the 
same  Mass  and  hear  the  same  reading  at  table  without  being 
able  to  see  or  speak  with  each  other. 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  were  charged  with  the  care 
and  service  of  these  poor,  while  a  priest  of  the  Mission  at¬ 
tended  to  their  spiritual  needs.  St.  Vincent  himself  was 
one  of  the  first  to  instruct  them  and  to  recommend  mutual 
peace,  piety  and  especially  gratitude  to  God  for  having  re¬ 
moved  them  from  their  indigence  and  for  having  procured 
for  them  a  retreat  where  all  their  needs  of  body  and  soul 
were  being  cared  for.  That  they  were  in  dire  need  of 
religious  instruction  is  seen  from  the  conference  to  which 
reference  was  made  above,  and  which  is  the  only  one  of  its 
kind  that  has  been  preserved.  In  it  St.  Vincent  teaches  the 
inmates  how  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  instructs 
them  in  the  most  elementary  mysteries  of  the  Catholic  faith. 

The  poor  were  not  to  remain  idle,  but  were  expected  to 
earn  a  part  of  their  livelihood,  if  at  all  possible,  by  busying 
themselves  according  to  their  strength  and  their  trades.  For 
this  purpose,  St.  Vincent  supplied  them  with  the  necessary 
tools,  looms,  and  the  like. 

The  number  of  inmates  was  restricted  to  forty.  When 
one  died,  another  was  immediately  received  to  fill  the  va¬ 
cancy.  There  was  always  a  long  waiting  list  of  those  who 
were  attracted  by  the  peaceful  and  regulated  life.  Many  of 
them  applied  for  admission  several  years  in  advance.21 

The  institution  was  very  successful.  Abelly  informs 
us  that  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  Paris  and  other  persons  of 
prominence  and  virtue  who  visited  it  marveled  at  the  good 
order  and  harmony  that  reigned  there,  and  at  the  thrift 
with  which  it  was  conducted.  “One  sees  there,”  the  same 
author  continues,  “a  marvelous  peace  and  union ;  murmuring 
and  slander  were  banished  with  the  other  vices.  The  poor 
occupied  themselves  with  their  little  wTorks  and  acquitted 
themselves  of  all  the  duties  of  piety  conformable  to  their 
condition.  Finally,  it  was  the  life  of  the  first  Christians  on 
a  small  scale,  and  rather  a  religious  community  than  a  nos¬ 
pice  of  seculars.”22 

21  Cf.  Lett.,  iii.,  121,  No.  noo,  To  M.  le  Pelletier  (1655). 

22  Abelly,  i.,  307-  n  ;  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Sup pi),  506-8. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


269 


St.  Vincent,  in  the  conference  already  quoted,  tells  the 
inmates  to  thank  God  for  having  provided  them  “with  the 
things  necessary  both  for  body  and  soul,”  and  then  contin¬ 
ues  :  “W hat  more  can  you  desire?  You  are  given  your  food, 
not  indeed  as  the  presidents,  but  all  that  is  necessary.  How 
many  poor  are  there  in  Paris  and  elsewhere  who  have  not 
the  good  fortune  that  you  have ;  how  many  poor  nobles  who 
would  consider  themselves  very  happy  if  they  had  the  food 
you  have !  [There  are]  so  many  poor  laborers  who  work 
from  morning  till  night  who  are  not  as  well  nourished  as 
you.” 

We  learn  from  one  of  St.  Vincent’s  letters  that  a  certain 
ecclesiastic  was  entrusted  with  money  to  make  a  foundation 
for  the  maintenance  of  six  poor  people ;  he  thought  of  making 
it  in  favor  of  St.  Vincent’s  institution.  With  this  intention  he 
had  four  poor  there  for  some  time,  but  later  recalled  them  at 
the  instigation  of  the  donor  to  make  the  foundation  else¬ 
where.  There  is  no  reason  given  for  this  course  of  action,  but 
most  probably  it  was  because  of  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
admission  into  the  Hospice  of  the  Name  of  Jesus,  and  not  on 
account  of  any  complaints  against  the  management.23 

When  Abelly  wrote  his  biography  of  St.  Vincent  in  1664, 
four  years  after  the  Saint’s  death,  the  Home  for  the  Aged 
Poor  was  hard  pressed  for  funds,  and  it  was  feared  that 
forty  inmates  could  no  longer  be  maintained.  Still  the  in¬ 
stitution  continued  in  existence  until  the  Revolution.  It  was 
then  transformed  into  a  hospital  for  incurables. 

5.  L’Hopital  General 

The  armies  of  beggars  had  long  constituted  a  vexing 
social  problem  for  entire  Europe.  Numerous  but  ineffective 
attempts  had  long  been  made  to  suppress  begging  by  legis¬ 
lation  and  by  the  establishment  of  asylums  and  houses  of 
detention  and  correction.24 

France,  too,  was  making  efforts  to  rid  itself  of  beggars 
by  similar  methods.  From  the  first  years  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIII  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  con- 


23  Lett.,  iii.,  12 1,  No.  noo.  To  M.  le  Pelletier  (1655). 

24  Cf.j  v.g.j  Lallemand,  Hist,  dc  Ici  Char.,  iv.,  part  I.,  232-245. 


270 


THE  CHARITIES 


fining  the  poor  in  institutions.  In  1611,  statutes  were 
drafted  “for  the  hospices  of  the  confined  poor,”  and  letters 
patent,  issued  by  the  king  the  following  year,  ordered  the 
“idle  beggars”  to  be  placed  in  the  Maison  de  la  Pitie  and 
the  institutions  dependent  upon  it.  The  project  proved  im¬ 
mature  and  unequal  to  the  enormity  of  the  task.  It  failed 
completely  after  five  or  six  years.  In  1622,  the  king  issued 
new  letters  patent  for  an  asylum  intended  for  “those  who 
flock”  to  Paris  “and  fall  daily  into  poverty,  both  healthy 
and  invalid,  vagabonds  of  both  sexes,  be  they  young  or  old, 
not  confined  to  bed  by  illness.”  Again  the  project  proved 
unsuccessful.  Ten  years  later  the  Parliament  of  Paris  made 
an  award  for  “the  establishment  of  a  general  hospice  wThere 
the  poor  of  all  conditions  could  be  comfortably  lodged.”  This 
was  no  more  successful  than  the  former  attempts  had  been. 

It  was  different,  however,  in  other  parts  of  France.  A 
house,  established  at  Lyons  in  1531,  for  the  care  of  the  unfor¬ 
tunates  whom  the  famine  of  the  neighboring  provinces  had 
driven  thither,  became  within  a  short  time  an  asylum  for 
all  indigents.  At  Marseilles  in  1641  a  house  was  established 
“to  confine  the  poor  beggars,  men,  women  and  orphan  chil¬ 
dren,  and  other  needy  persons  not  having  the  means  of 
gaining  a  livelihood,  and  to  train  them  in  the  fear  of  God 
and  in  the  work”  of  which  they  were  capable.  Nine  years 
later,  Nantes  transformed  its  hospital  into  a  hospice  for 
beggars.  In  the  same  year  the  parliament  of  Normandy 
ordered  that  all  the  poor  wandering  through  the  city,  men 
and  boys,  women  and  girls,  should  be  confined  in  various 
institutions,  where  alms  would  be  distributed  to  them.  Other 
cities,  as  Rouen,  Beauvais,  and  Chartres,  were  introducing 
the  same  system.25 

A  new  and  successful  impetus  was  given  to  this  phase 
of  social  relief  at  Paris  through  St.  Vincent’s  Hospice  of  the 
Name  of  Jesus.  The  Ladies  of  Charity,  interested  at  all 
times  in  the  undertakings  of  Vincent,  came  frequently  to 
visit  his  new  institution.  They  were  struck  with  admiration 
at  the  wonderful  order  maintained  there  and  at  the  spirit 
of  piety  and  contentment  that  prevailed  among  its  inmates. 


25  Ibid.,  247-251. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


271 


They  conceived  the  plan  of  extending  the  benefits  of  such 
an  institution  to  the  40,000  able-bodied  beggars  of  the  capi¬ 
tal.  What  was  being  accomplished  on  a  miniature  scale 
could,  under  the  master  direction  of  St.  Vincent,  they  were 
convinced,  be  extended  indefinitely. 

One  of  the  Ladies  immediately  offered  50,000  livres  to 
begin  the  work.  Another  pledged  3,000  livres  rent  for  the 
same  purpose.  The  idea  spread  fast.  At  the  following 
weekly  meeting,  the  Ladies  proposed  the  project  to  St.  Vin¬ 
cent.  He  was  taken  by  surprise.  He  considered  the  idea 
more  indicative  of  the  zeal  and  charity  of  the  good  Ladies 
than  capable  of  immediate  execution.  As  was  his  wont 
when  confronted  with  a  new  undertaking  of  consequence, 
he  advised  delay  for  prayer  and  consideration.  But  the 
Ladies  would  not  be  put  off.  At  the  next  meeting  they  gave 
the  assurance  that  money  would  not  be  wanting.  They  knew 
persons  of  wealth  waiting  to  contribute  considerable  sums. 
They  urged  Vincent,  therefore,  to  consent  that  the  work  be 
begun  at  once.  He  would  fain  have  delayed  longer,  but  he 
found  it  impossible  to  stem  the  tide  of  growing  enthusiasm. 
The  question  was  voted  on  and  decided  in  the  affirmative. 

For  the  success  of  an  undertaking  of  such  immense  pro¬ 
portions,  the  first  requisite,  as  was  evident  to  all,  were 
buildings  and  grounds  sufficiently  spacious  for  the  accommo¬ 
dation  of  thousands.  After  some  consultation  Vincent  was 
deputed  to  request  the  king,  through  the  mediation  of  the 
queen  mother,  for  the  grant  of  La  Salpetriere,  a  large  tract 
of  land  including  spacious  edifices  on  the  bank  of  the  Seine. 
He  obtained  his  request  without  difficulty.  The  opposition 
of  a  certain  individual,  who  claimed  an  interest  in  the  prop¬ 
erty,  was  silenced  by  the  promise  of  a  hundred  livres  of  rent 
on  the  part  of  one  of  the  Ladies. 

The  Ladies  in  their  enthusiasm  now  thought  everything 
in  readiness  for  the  immediate  execution  of  their  design. 
They  were  impatient  to  see  all  the  poor  of  Paris  taken 
thither.  But  two  important  points  were  as  yet  undecided, 
viz.,  the  manner  of  getting  the  poor  into  the  institution,  and 
the  method  and  personnel  of  administration. 

St.  Vincent’s  main  concern  for  the  nonce  was,  therefore, 
to  moderate  the  ardor  of  the  Ladies.  Being  fearful  of  the 


272 


THE  CHARITIES 


success  of  the  undertaking  on  so  vast  a  scale,  he  wished 
first  to  make  an  experiment  with  only  one  or  two  hundred 
poor.  Let  these,  he  said,  come  of  their  own  volition.  If 
they  are  well  treated  and  contented  others  will  be  attracted 
and  thus  the  number  will  increase  gradually  and  in  propor¬ 
tion  as  God  sends  funds,  whereas  haste  and  constraint  might 
very  easily  frustrate  the  designs  of  Providence. 

A  more  formidable  obstacle  was  placed  in  the  way  by 
the  magistrates  of  the  city.  Their  authorization  was  neces¬ 
sary  for  the  undertaking,  but  some  of  the  principal  officials, 
in  the  light  of  experience,  considered  the  idea  chimerical 
and  withheld  their  consent.  Thus  the  years  1655  and  1656 
passed  without  anything  definite  being  accomplished. 
Finally,  a  working  plan  and  a  form  of  government  was 
agreed  upon. 

In  the  meantime,  the  work  took  on  a  different  phase. 
Inspired  by  the  success  of  the  institutional  method  as  a 
weapon  against  mendicancy  in  other  cities  of  France,  espe¬ 
cially  Lyons,  and  emboldened  by  the  public  sentiment 
aroused,  on  the  one  hand,  against  begging  and,  on  the  other, 
in  favor  of  St.  Vincent’s  undertaking,  the  civil  authorities 
deemed  it  opportune  to  renew  the  general  edict  forbidding 
mendicancy  in  Paris.  Accordingly,  the  king  issued  an  edict 
in  April,  1656,  in  virtue  of  which  all  able-bodied  beggars 
were  obliged  either  to  leave  the  city,  to  work,  or  to  betake 
themselves  to  the  General  Poor  House.  Though  the  text  of 
the  edict  expressly  states  that  it  was  prompted  by  “the  sole 
motive  of  charity,”  it  was  in  reality  a  police  measure  and 
a  renewal  of  the  police  ordinances  which  had  proven  in¬ 
effective  in  the  past. 

Administrators,  all  men  of  honor  and  piety,  were  ap¬ 
pointed  to  begin  the  work.  Another  full  year  was  spent  in 
making  necessary  preparations.  Without  the  consent  or  even 
the  foreknowledge  of  St.  Vincent,  the  king  and  the  Parlia¬ 
ment  ordered  that  the  Daughters  of  Charity  be  employed 
in  the  institution  and  that  the  priests  of  the  Mission  attend 
the  spiritual  needs  of  the  inmates.  After  four  months’  con¬ 
sideration  and  hesitation,  St.  Vincent  writes  thus  to  M.  de 
Mauroy,  supervisor  of  finances :  “I  have  communicated 
the  affair  of  the  Great  Hospice  [i.  e.,  the  question  of  accept- 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


273 


ing  the  spiritual  direction]  to  our  little  Company  for  the 
last  time,  and  all  are  unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  it 
cannot  at  all  undertake  it,  and  they  have  earnestly  entreated 
me  to  beg  you,  sir  (and  through  you  the  administrators),  as 
I  most  humbly  do,  to  excuse  them  for  the  inability  to  render 
you  this  act  of  obedience.”26 

The  real  reason  of  Vincent’s  refusal  has  ever  been  more 
or  less  a  matter  of  conjecture.  He  himself,  it  is  true,  pleads 
a  dearth  of  men  and  an  overdemand  on  these  comparatively 
few  from  other  quarters.  Abelly  merely  states  it  was  done 
“for  several  very  grave  and  very  important  reasons.”  But 
the  biographers  in  the  main  are  inclined  to  think  it  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  Vincent  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  the 
idea  that  the  poor  should  be  sent  to  the  General  Hospice  and 
retained  there  by  compulsion,  either  because  he  had  learned 
from  the  experience  at  Macon  that  the  poor  resented  such 
methods  [see  pp.  322-3]  or,  according  to  Lallemand,  be¬ 
cause  his  Irish  missionaries  had  given  him  an  unfavor¬ 
able  report  of  the  working  of  the  English  houses  of 
correction.27 

Still  we  must  not  imagine  that  St.  Vincent  was  resentful 
or  that  he  opposed  the  institution  in  any  way.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  he  himself  wrote  to  Mme.  d’Aiguillon,  after  com¬ 
municating  to  her  his  refusal  to  accept  the  spiritual  direc¬ 
tion  :  “I  very  humbly  entreat  you  ...  to  assure  them  [the 
administrators  of  the  institution]  that  this  will  not  prevent 
us  from  going  to  visit  and  serve  the  poor  under  their  good 
pleasure  when  we  can  do  so.”2S  And  when  he  had  definitely 
decided  to  refuse  the  appointment,  fearing  lest  other  eccle¬ 
siastics  should  be  reluctant  to  take  up  the  work  as  long  as 
his  Congregation  was  named  in  the  letters  patent  of  the 
king,  he  immediately  renounced  his  claim  juridically.  And 
still  fearful  lest  his  refusal  should  retard  the  opening  of  the 
institution,  he  personally  invited  an  ecclesiastic  who  fre- 


26  Lett.,  iii.,  436-7,  No.  1359,  Mar.  23,  1657.  Cf.  also  Avis  et  Confer,  aux 
Membres  de  la  Congreg.,  205,  Repetition  d’Oraison  die  11  N ovembre ,  1656; 
Lett.,  iii.,  407,  No.  1333,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  Jan.  23,  1657;  Lett., 
iv.,  276-7,  No.  1793,  To  Mme.  La  Duchesse  d’Aiguillon. 

27  Cf.  Lett.,  iv.,  276,  No.  1793,  To  Mme.  d’Aiguillon;  Abelly,  i.,  316; 
Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  I.,  254. 

z&Lett.,  iv.,  276-7,  No.  1793. 


274 


THE  CHARITIES 


quented  the  Tuesday  Conferences  at  Saint-Lazare  to  accept 
the  position. 

But  St.  Vincent  gave  the  greatest  proof  of  his  good  will 
toward  the  institution  after  it  had  taken  on  a  strictly  polit¬ 
ical  aspect,  when  he,  in  concert  with  the  Ladies  of  Charity, 
placed  at  the  full  disposal  of  the  magistrates,  not  only  the 
property  he  had  but  recently  obtained  by  a  special  grant  of 
the  king,  but  also  the  castle  of  Bicetre,  which  he  had  obtained 
some  years  previously  to  house  the  foundlings.  Moreover, 
the  Ladies  of  Charity  contributed  large  sums  of  money  and 
large  quantities  of  linen,  beds,  and  other  furniture,  some  of 
which  had  been  made  by  the  carpenters  of  Saint-Lazare. 

To  La  Salpetriere  and  the  Bicetre  the  king  affiliated  a 
number  of  institutions  already  functioning  in  different  parts 
of  the  city.  And  after  a  year’s  intensive  preparation,  during 
which  time  the  poor  were  already  being  received  in  one  of  the 
affiliated  institutions,  the  General  Hospice  was  solemnly 
opened,  in  May,  1657.  The  event  had  previously  been  pub¬ 
lished  in  all  the  parish  churches  of  Paris.  Of  the  40,000  beg¬ 
gars  of  Paris,  the  majority  left  the  city  and  others  began 
to  earn  their  livelihood,  leaving  only  four  or  five  thousand, 
most  of  whom  were  weak  or  infirm,  to  become  charges  of  the 
institution.  Their  numbers  increased  in  the  course  of  time 
until  the  ordinary  annual  number  of  inmates  was  twenty 
thousand. 

Thus  were  means  taken  to  rid  Paris  of  beggars,  not  by 
providing  for  merely  a  few  by  way  of  trial,  nor  by  allowing 
the  beggars  the  privilege  of  choice,  as  St.  Vincent  had  de¬ 
sired,  but  by  an  absolute  declaration  affecting  all  the  beggars 
of  the  city.  This  undertaking  has  been  appraised  as  the 
greatest  work  of  the  century.  It  was  also  far-reaching  in  its 
results.  By  declarations  of  1662,  1673  and  1676  the  king 
ordered  the  establishment  of  similar  institutions  in -all  the 
large  cities  of  his  realm.29 

If  we  submit  to  a  closer  scrutiny  the  role  St.  Vincent 
played  in  this  movement,  we  find  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
idea  of  suppressing  mendicancy  through  institutions  was 
not  new.  Nor  was  the  General  Hospice  novel  in  so  far  as  it 


20  Cf.  Lallemand,  Opus  cit.,  iv.,  part  I.,  261-4. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


275 


had  its  origin  in  private  initiative,  for  the  establishment  of 
a  similar  nature  at  Lyons,  for  example,  was  thus  begun  and 
long  maintained.  The  General  Hospice  at  Paris,  was,  how¬ 
ever,  without  precedent  as  regards  the  immensity  of  the 
problem  demanding  solution.  But  in  this  St.  Vincent  had  no 
part.  He  had  wished  to  make  a  trial  with  only  one  or  two 
hundred  poor.  On  the  other  hand,  though  St.  Vincent  only 
unwittingly  gave  the  first  inspiration  of  a  General  Hospice 
by  his  Home  for  the  Aged  Poor,  still  he  is  deserving  of  great- 
credit,  for  it  was  faith  in  his  tried  ability  that  gave  the 
Ladies  of  Charity  the  courage  to  think  of  undertaking  so 
enormous  a  task.  They  had  long  been  witness  to  his  many 
successful  undertakings ;  they  were  confident  he  was  capable 
of  bringing  this  undertaking,  too,  to  a  successful  issue  if  they 
could  but  enlist  his  interest  and  cooperation.  But  his  great¬ 
est  positive  contributions  were  La  Salpetriere  and  the  Bice- 
tre,  which  he  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  magistrates,  and 
that  too  at  a  time  when  their  intervention  meant  the  frustra¬ 
tion  of  his  own  plans  and  methods  of  procedure. 

6.  General  Relief 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  not  only  relieved  individual  phases  of 
human  misery,  but  the  public  calamities  that  visited  France 
during  this  period  offered  him  occasion  to  prove  his  ability 
also  in  organizing  and  directing  charity  toward  the  simul¬ 
taneous  relief  of  a  great  diversity  of  evils  affecting  at  times 
entire  provinces,  at  others  only  single  cities. 

A.  The  Relief  of  Lorraine 

Richelieu,  bent  upon  making  France  the  first  power  of 
Europe  at  any  cost,  had  contented  himself  for  a  number  of 
years  with  lending  moral  support  and  financial  aid  to  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Germany  against  the  Catholic  rulers 
of  Austria.  He  endeavored  to  compel  Duke  Charles  IV  of 
Lorraine  with  armed  force  to  adopt  a  like  policy,  but  the 
latter’s  sympathies  were  decidedly  with  the  Catholic  cause. 
In  1635  Richelieu  declared  war  against  Austria,  thus  inaugu¬ 
rating  the  French  Period  of  the  Thirty  Years’  War,  and  Lor¬ 
raine  became  the  scene  of  renewed  conflict.  War  brought  on 
the  plague  and  the  two  together  produced  famine. 


276 


THE  CHARITIES 


Thus  Lorraine,  which  is  described  by  contemporary  writ¬ 
ers  as  having  been  one  of  the  most  densely  populated,  most 
fertile  and  prosperous  provinces  of  Europe,  was  within  a 
few  years  reduced  to  abject  poverty  and  misery. 

A  great  number  of  the  inhabitants  had  been  carried  away 
by  death.  The  greater  part  of  the  nobles  and  the  wealthier 
class  of  the  citizens  as  well  as  many  of  the  ecclesiastics  fled 
from  the  country.  Those  who  were  compelled  to  remain  were- 
reduced  to  such  distress  that  they  were  able  to  sustain  life 
only  by  feeding  on  roots,  reptiles,  and  putrid  carrion.  A 
letter  written  to  St.  Vincent  in  1640  by  an  eyewitness,  a  priest 
of  the  Mission,  states  that  at  Saint-Mihiel  “no  horse  dies  of 
whatever  disease  but  it  is  dragged  away  immediately  to  be 
eaten.  Only  three  or  four  days  ago,”  it  continues,  “there 
was  a  woman  at  the  public  distribution  of  alms  who  had  her 
apron  filled  with  this  infected  meat ;  she  was  giving  it  to  the 
other  poor  in  exchange  for  little  morsels  of  bread.”30 

Famine  had  so  stifled  maternal  instincts  that  mothers  ate 
their  infant  children.  Moreover,  the  inhabitants,  especially 
the  women  and  children,  were  in  almost  constant  danger  of 
being  devoured  by  wolves  so  famished  for  want  of  food  that 
they  infested  the  roads  and  even  entered  towns  and  dwellings. 

Girls  and  young  ladies  in  great  numbers  were  on  the  verge 
of  selling  their  virtue  to  escape  death  by  hunger.  And 
religious  women  were  all  but  forced  from  their  cloisters  in 
quest  of  bread,  at  the  peril  of  their  honor. 

The  greatest  indigence  and  misery  were  found  even  in  the 
larger  cities,  which  were  the  least  directly  affected  by  the 
wars.  Thus  at  Toul  the  poor  sick  were  found  lying  in  the 
streets.  The  number  of  the  poor  was  so  great  in  and  around 
Metz  that  as  many  as  four  or  five  thousand  were  to  be  seen 
at  its  gates.  At  Pont-a-Mousson,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  no 
crops  had  been  raised  for  two  years  because  of  the  devastat¬ 
ing  armies,  the  priests  of  the  Mission  found  in  1640  “four 
or  five  hundred  poor  so  disfigured  that  they  had  never  seen 
persons  more  worthy  of  compassion;”  “the  majority  were 
from  the  country,  so  weak  and  languid,  that  they  died  in  the 
very  act  of  eating.”31  Writing  from  Saint-Mihiel  at  about  the 

/30  Cited  in  Abelly,  ii.,  495. 

31  Ibid.,  492. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


277 


same  time,  a  priest  of  the  Mission  informs  St.  Vincent  that 
“there  are  here  more  than  three  hundred  (poor)  in  great 
need  and  more  than  three  hundred  others  in  extreme  misery ; 
.  .  .  there  are  over  a  hundred  who  resemble  skeletons  cov¬ 
ered  with  skin  .  .  .  ”.  The  same  missionary  in  a  later  letter 
informs  St.  Vincent  that  “at  the  last  distribution  of  bread, 
which  we  made,  there  were  1,132  poor  besides  the  sick,  of 
whom  there  is  a  large  number  and  whom  we  assist  with  food 
and  proper  remedies.”  A  priest  sent  by  St.  Vincent  to  inspect 
the  relief  work  of  the  province  in  1640  gives  us  a  further 
insight  into  the  deplorable  conditions  of  Saint-Mihiel.  He 
writes  thus  in  his  report :  “Besides  all  the  poor  beggars  .  .  ., 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  especially  the 
nobility,  endure  such  famine  that  it  can  neither  be  expressed 
nor  imagined ;  and  what  is  the  most  deplorable  is  the  fact  that 
they  do  not  venture  to  ask  for  anything.  There  are  some  who 
make  bold  to  do  so,  but  others  would  rather  die.”3- 

The  ecclesiastics,  too,  suffered  as  well  as  the  people.  A 
report  written  by  a  priest  of  the  Mission  in  1640  states  that 
“a  parish  priest  who  is  half  a  league  from  the  city  of  Saint- 
Mihiel  is  compelled  to  draw  the  plow,  being  yoked  with  his 
parishioners  in  place  of  horses.”33  A  canon  of  Verdun  was 
forced  to  leave  his  church  and  till  the  land  in  order  to  earn 
a  bare  livelihood.  But  the  great  exertion  with  its  scanty 
return  had  so  weakened  him  that  he  was  obliged  to  appeal 
to  St.  Vincent  for  assistance,  or  die. 

Such,  in  a  general  picture,  were  the  conditions  Vincent  de 
Paul  was  called  upon  to  ameliorate.  The  work  of 'relief,  like 
most  of  Vincent’s  undertakings,  was  occasioned,  humanly 
speaking,  by  a  trifling  circumstance.  In  1637  or  163834  a 
charitable  person  presented  him  with  a  sum  of  money  to  be 
used  for  the  purpose.  He  forwarded  it  immediately  to  the 
priests  of  the  Mission  who  were  stationed  at  Toul.  These 
set  to  work  at  once  to  employ  it  in  furnishing  lodging,  food, 


32  Ibid.,  493-5. 

33  Ibid.,  495-6. 

34  Abelly  (vol.  i.,  244)  says  it  was  in  1639.  This  is  undoubtedly  incor¬ 
rect,  for  the  same  author  (vol.  ii.,  p.  487)  cites  in  full  a  testimonial,  dated 
Dec.,  1639,  wherein  its  writer.  Jean  Midot,  the  vicar  general  of  the  diocese 
of  Toul,  testifies  to  the  relief  already  given  by  the  priests  of  the  Mission 
“for  about  two  years.” 


278 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  medical  care  for  the  poor  and  sick.  St.  Vincent,  on  the 
one  hand,  heard  of  the  good  results  and,  on  the  other,  learned 
from  them  the  vastness  of  the  misery.  He  soon  sent,  there¬ 
fore,  other  priests  and  brothers  to  render  like  assistance  to 
other  cities  of  Lorraine  in  similar  distress. 

St.  Vincent’s  methods  and  organization  were  simple,  but 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Paris  was  the  center  of  the  activi¬ 
ties,  and  Vincent  its  prime  mover,  mainstay,  and  director. 
He  aroused  the  interest  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  in  the  work 
and  relied  upon  them  to  furnish  or  procure  the  funds  and 
other  necessary  provisions.  He  consulted  them  at  the  meet¬ 
ings  concerning  the  distribtution  of  the  alms  after  reading 
the  appeals  of  relief  from  the  missionaries,  and  acted  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  recommendations.  He  also  very  frequently  took 
orders  from  the  queen,  in  order  that  nothing  be  done  con¬ 
trary  to  the  wishes  of  the  benefactors. 

He  employed  as  a  medium  of  publicity  the  letters  from 
the  missionaries.  He  sent  them  to  different  places  that  their 
reading  might  serve  the  double  purpose  of  arousing  the  rich 
to  practical  compassion,  and  of  acquainting  the  benefactors 
with  the  use  to  which  their  donations  were  being  put,  as  also 
with  the  results  obtained.  The  immediate  recipients  of  these 
letters  were  expected  to  circulate  them  among  their  friends 
and  acquaintances.  Thus  was  the  good  work  made  known 
among  the  people  and  interest  in  it  fostered.  [See  p.  134.] 

The  alms  were  then  sent  to  the  different  distressed  dis¬ 
tricts  according  to  the  wishes  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and 
there  judiciously  employed  in  the  various  phases  of  the  relief 
work  by  the  members  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission, 
both  priests  and  lay  brothers,  whom  St.  Vincent  had  sent 
thither  for  the  purpose.  Though  the  selection  of  the  persons 
to  be  assisted  was  left  to  the  judgment  of  these  distributors, 
still  Vincent  vigorously  insisted  that  the  alms  be  used  for 
that  phase  of  relief  specified  by  the  benefactors.  He  wrote, 
for  example,  to  M.  Du  Coudray  at  Toul,  June  17,  1640 :  “As 
regards  the  two  thousand  livres  which  you  have  received 
.  .  .  for  the  religious  women,  in  the  name  of  God,  sir,  do  not 
divert  any  of  it  to  any  other  use  under  any  pretext  of  charity 
whatsoever.”35 


35  Lett.,  i.,  316-7,  No.  292. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


279 


The  sick  were  variously  provided  for.  Wherever  the 
priests  of  the  Mission  had  an  establishment,  they  converted 
all  the  available  space  into  a  temporary  hospital.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  at  Toul,  in  1639,  they  were  caring  for  forty  or  sixty 
poor  sick  “in  their  house,  though  it  was  small.”  At  Nancy, 
too,  “they  took  into  their  house  a  number  of  sick.”  Others 
they  had  taken  to  the  hospitals,  as  at  Toul,  Nancy  and  Bar- 
le-Duc.  Finally,  others  were  “lodged  .in  the  suburbs,”  as  at 
Toul,  while,  for  example,  at  Nancy,  “there  were  ordinarily 
thirty,  forty,  or  fifty  .  .  .  sick  besides  those  treated  in  the 
hospital  lodged  here  and  there  in  the  city.”36 

The  missionaries  provided  medical  care  for  all  the  sick 
that  fell  to  their  charge,  no  matter  where  lodged.  In  some 
cases,  they  engaged  the  physicians  and  paid  both  for  their 
services  and  for  medicines,  as  at  Nancy,  or,  if  the  sick  were 
in  the  hospital,  they  gave  a  monthly  allowance  to  the  hospital 
to  care  for  all  their  needs,  as  at  Bar-le-Duc.  “Linen  and 
money”  were  also  given  to  the  hospital  at  Nancy  to  care  for 
the  sick  lodged  there.37 

In  other  places  the  lay  brothers  of  the  Mission,  and  prob¬ 
ably  at  times  also  the  priests,  acted  as  physicians.  We  know, 
for  example,  that  those  working  among  the  poor  at  Nancy 
“had  some  secret  remedies  for  a  number  of  cures  which  one 
had  taught  them,  which  cost  them  little,  and  which  did  not 
fail  to  bring  a  very  great  relief  to  the  poor.”3S  And  again, 
the  missionary  who  had  been  sent  by  St.  Vincent  to  inspect 
the  work  done  in  the  distressed  regions  says  of  Bar-le-Duc 
in  his  report  of  1640 :  “They  [the  missionaries]  themselves 
here  drqss  the  wounds  of  the  sick  [afflicted]  with  the  scurf ; 
heretofore  there  were  ordinarily  twenty-five  of  them,  and 
there  still  remain  twelve.  This  disease  is  very  common 
throughout  all  Lorraine.  In  all  the  other  cities  these  sick 
are  found  in  proportion,  and  they  are — thank  God ! — every¬ 
where  tended  very  carefully  and  charitably,  so  that  all  re¬ 
cover  from  it  through  a  very  good  remedy  which  our  brothers 
have  learned.”39 

3G  Cf.  Lett .,  i.,  241,  No.  232,  To  M.  de  Sergis  at  Toulouse,  Feb.  3,  1639; 
Testimonial  of  Jean  Midot,  Abelly,  ii.,  487;  Abelly,  ii.,  487,  490,  498. 

37  Abelly,  ii.,  490,  498. 

38  Ibid.,  491. 

39  Ibid.,  498. 


280 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  sick,  moreover,  shared  in  the  alms  that  were  dis¬ 
tributed  to  all  the  poor.  Those,  for  example,  that  were  cared 
for  in  the  houses  of  the  missionaries  were  supplied  with  all 
necessary  food  and  clothing,  as  at  Toul  and  Nancy.  Those 
in  the  hospitals  were  given  “soup,  meat,  and  bread,”  as  at 
Bar-le-Duc  and  Toul.  Like  alms  were  given  also  to  the  sick 
who  were  cared  for  outside  the  hospitals,  as  at  Verdun  and 
Nancy.  In  each  of  these  latter  places  from  thirty  to  sixty 
sick  received  their  daily  portion  of  “bread,  soup,  and  meat 
while  “clothes  and  linen”  were  given  to  the  sick  at  Pont-a- 
Mousson. 

The  healthy  poor  were  provided  for  according  to  their 
special  needs.  But  nearly  all  had  to  be  supplied  in  the  first 
place  with  the  necessary  food,  At  Verdun  the  missionaries 
gave  bread  to  four,  five,  and,  at  times,  six  hundred  poor  daily 
between  the  years  of  1639  and  1641.  And  besides  these,  poor 
from  the  country  and  passers-by  came  at  all  hours  of  the 
day  to  receive  food.  Four  to  five  hundred  received  bread 
and  soup  daily  at  Nancy.  Some  of  these  also  found  a  tempo¬ 
rary  home  with  the  missionaries. 

There  were  also  at  Nancy  two  classes  of  persons  who 
were  ashamed  of  their  poverty — people  of  the  middle  class 
and  people  of  the  nobility,  both  lay  and  ecclesiastic.  To  the 
former,  numbering  about  fifty,  a  certain  amount  of  bread 
was  given  each  week;  to  the  latter,  about  thirty  in  number, 
“some  money  each  month,  according  to  the  condition  and 
the  needs  of  each.”40 

Likewise  at  Pont-a-Mousson,  between  four  and  five  hun¬ 
dred  poor  were  given  food  daily  in  1640,  and  special  pro¬ 
vision  was  made  for  the  poor  ashamed  to  beg. 

Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  villages,  and 
especially  the  children  from  ten  to  twelve  years,  were  hin¬ 
dered  from  coming  for  alms  by  the  fear  of  being  devoured 
by  wolves.  A  charitable  priest  offered  to  bring  them  relief 
and  received  money  from  the  missionaries  with  which  to  buy 
the  necessary  food. 

Other  forms  of  relief  were  given  as  necessity  demanded 
and  in  as  far  as  the  resources  permitted.  Particular  atten- 


40  Ibid.,  490-1. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


281 


tion  was  paid  to  nursing  mothers.  At  Nancy,  for  example, 
they  were  given  “money,  meal,  bread  and  soup.”  The  poor 
who  were  able  to  work  were  given  “shoes  and  tools  ...  in 
order  to  go  to  the  woods  to  gain  their  livelihood.”  This  is 
expressly  mentioned  to  have  been  the  case  at  Pont-a-Mous- 
son.  The  missionaries,  too,  distributed  “linen  and  clothes” 
to  the  poor.  As  they  gave  shirts  they  took  the  old  ones  in 
return  to  have  them  washed  and  mended  that  they  might  be 
later  given  to  others,  or  be  made  into  bandages  for  the  sick 
and  wounded.  We  are  told  in  a  letter  from  Bar-le-Duc, 
dated  July,  1640,  that  clothes  were  distributed  every  week; 
while  an  earlier  letter,  written  in  February  of  the  same  year, 
states  that  “at  each  distribution  of  bread  it  was  necessary 
to  give  clothes  to  twenty-five  or  thirty  poor.”  Within  a 
short  time  two  hundred  and  sixty  had  been  thus  clothed.41 

We  have  already  mentioned  that  those  who  were  able  to 
do  so,  fled  from  Lorraine  to  seek  a  livelihood  elsewhere.  The 
missionaries  in  the  various  cities  directed  many  of  these  to 
Bar-le-Duc  as  the  last  large  city  in  Lorraine  and  the  gateway 
to  France.  The  missionaries  stationed  here  supplied  them 
at  a  great  expense  with  money  and  provisions  for  their 
journey  into  France.  A  large  proportion  of  them  sought 
refuge  in  Paris.  Here  they  were  received  by  St.  Vincent, 
who  had  them  lodged  in  different  places  within  the  city  and 
in  the  suburbs,  and  procured  for  them  food  and  clothing. 
Those  who  were  unable  to  work  were  supported  on  alms. 
The  able-bodied  were  given  positions  either  to  serve  or  to 
work  at  their  respective  trades.42 

When  peace  had  been  restored  in  Lorraine  and  many  of 
the  refugees  were  ready  to  return  to  their  homes,  St.  Vincent 
had  them  furnished  with  all  the  necessaries  for  the  journey, 
as  also  with  sufficient  to  subsist  for  some  time  after  arriving 
home.  He  continued  in  the  meantime  to  support  those  who 
remained  at  Paris.  The  special  provision  that  was  made 
for  the  care  of  the  refugees  of  the  nobility  has  already  been 
considered  [pp.  258-60]. 


41  Ibid.,  491-2,  497-8. 

42  Renaudot  was  engaged  in  Paris  at  this  time  in  finding  employment  for 
just  such  as  these.  Still,  as  has  already  been  stated  [see  p.  79,  note  19].  we 
find  it  nowhere  mentioned  that  Renaudot  and  St.  Vincent  ever  met. 


282 


THE  CHARITIES 


Fourteen  Benedictine  nuns  had  come  from  Rambervil- 
liers  to  Saint-Mihiel  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  house  at 
the  latter  place.  The  distress  of  the  region  precluded  all 
hope  of  being  able  to  subsist  there.  A  missionary,  therefore, 
at  the  instance  of  St.  Vincent  and  the  Ladies  of  Charity, 
directed  them  to  Paris,  where  they  were  cared  for.  We 
have  already  considered  the  protection  that  was  given  to 
girls  whose  virtue  was  imperiled  in  the  devastated  terri¬ 
tory  [see  pp.  252-3]. 

Many  other  persons  of  every  walk  of  life  went  from 
Lorraine  to  Paris  on  their  own  initiative  to  lay  claims  to 
the  assistance  of  St.  Vincent — a  fact  which  goes  to  show 
that  Vincent  was  considered  the  universal  refuge  of  the 
devastated  province.  Pierre  Fournier,  rector  of  the  Jesuit 
college  at  Nancy,  wrote  thus  to  Vincent  in  1643:  “Your 
charity  is  so  great  that  all  have  recourse  to  it.  Every  one 
looks  upon  you  here  as  the  asylum  of  the  afflicted  poor ;  this 
is  why  many  present  themselves  to  me  that  I  may  refer  them 
to  you,  that  by  this  means  they  may  experience  the  effects 
of  your  goodness.”43 

In  1643  the  sick  had  greatly  decreased  in  number  and 
the  poor,  given  a  little  respite  from  the  marauding  soldiers, 
had  set  to  work  to  earn  their  own  livelihood.  St.  Vincent, 
accordingly,  had  the  distributions  of  “bread,  soup,  and 
meat”  discontinued,  recalling,  at  the  same  time,  the  greater 
part  of  the  missionaries  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  prov¬ 
inces.  The  relief  work,  however,  was  not  yet  finished.  It 
still  continued  for  five  or  six  years.  And  in  proportion  as 
the  relief  could  be  diminished  in  intensity  on  account  of  the 
improving  conditions  of  the  people,  it  became  locally  more 
inclusive.  It  was  extended  now  to  almost  all  the  other  cities 
of  Lorraine,  Chateau-Salins,  Dieuze,  Marsal,  Moyen-Vic,  etc. 
By  the  order  of  the  queen  and  the  direction  of  St.  Vincent, 
it  was  extended  likewise,  for  the  space  of  two  years,  to 
various  cities  of  the  province  of  Artois,  as  Arras,  Bapaume, 
Hesdin,  etc. 

During  this  period  assistance  was  given  not  only  to  a 
large  number  of  poor,  who  were  ashamed  to  beg,  to  ruined 


43-Abelly,  ii.,  503-4. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


283 


bourgeois  and  noble  families,  but  also  to  all  religious  com¬ 
munities,  both  men  and  women.  The  quantity  of  alms  was 
determined  by  the  needs.  For  example,  three  or  four  hun¬ 
dred  livres  per  quarter  were  given  to  some  religious  com¬ 
munities,  and  to  others  five  or  six  hundred,  “according  to 
their  number  and  their  needs.” 

Besides  money,  St.  Vincent  had  about  fourteen  thou¬ 
sand  ells  of  different  kinds  of  cloth  sent  to  these  cities  with 
which  to  clothe  the  poor  of  all  conditions,  the  laity  and  the 
religious.  Each  trip  into  the  province  meant  the  clothing 
of  about  a  hundred  poor,  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls, 
while  the  religious  were  so  destitute  that  they  had  to  be 
supplied  with  cloth  for  their  habits  and  their  veils,  as  also 
with  shoes.44 

Throughout  the  entire  relief  work  St.  Vincent  insisted 
on  his  usual  method  of  uniting  the  spiritual  with  the  material 
when  ministering  to  the  needs  of  the  poor.  Though  the 
missionaries  were  burdened  with  the  distribution  of  the 
alms,  they  still  found  time  and  opportunity  to  instruct  the 
poor  and  administer  the  sacraments  to’  them.  At  Verdun, 
for  example,  we  are  told  that  they  “separated  the  young 
from  the  old  in  order  to  be  able  to  instruct  them  with  greater 
fruit.”  At  Nancy  they  gave  instructions  daily  “by  which 
they  disposed  them  [the  poor]  to  go  to  Confession  and  Com¬ 
munion  almost  every  month.”  They  had  those  who  were 
cared  for  in  the  hospital  of  this  city  approach  the  sacraments 
before  being  dismissed.  At  Pont-a-Mousson,  “they  gave  a 
kind  of  mission  to  all  [who  received  relief]  in  order  to  dis¬ 
pose  them  to  make  a  good  general  Confession.”  The  letters 
from  the  distressed  districts  make  mention,  too,  of  the  spir¬ 
itual  work  that  was  being  done  among  the  poor  of  Saint- 
Mihiel  and  of  Bar-le-Duc.  The  poor  of  Lorraine  who  had 
found  refuge  in  Paris  under  the  protection  of  St.  Vincent 
were  given  a  mission  by  priests  of  the  Tuesday  Conference 
during  the  Easter  season  of  1641  and  again  in  the  following 
year  in  the  village  church  of  La  Chapelle,  about  half  a  league 
from  Paris.45 


i4:Ibid.,  504-6. 

45  Abelly,  i.,  247;  Idem,  ii.,  489-90,  493,  496,  498. 


284 


THE  CHARITIES 


It  has  been  estimated  that  almost  1,600,000  livres  were 
distributed  as  alms  among  the  poor  of  Lorraine,  which, 
united  to  the  relief  given  in  kind,  would  equal  approximately 
8,000,000  livres  in  actual  value.  This  enormous  sum  was 
used  for  the  relief  of  twenty-five  cities  with  their  suburbs, 
besides  a  large  number  of  villages  and  hamlets,  and  extended 
over  a  period  of  about  ten  years.  Hence  the  daily  sum  at 
the  disposal  of  the  individual  missionaries  was  comparatively 
small.  Still  the  missionary,  sent  by  St.  Vincent  to  inspect 
the  work  in  1640,  expressed  his  wonderment  that  the  priest 
at  Saint-Mihiel  “could  give  so  much  alms,  both  in  general 
and  individually,  with  the  little  money  he  received  from 
Paris.”46 

The  same  encomium  could,  undoubtedly,  have  been  made 
of  the  other  workers  in  the  field,  for  the  evidence  shows  that 
relief  was  given  discriminately.  M.  d’Horgny,  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  prominent  members  of  the  Congregation  of 
the  Mission,  was  commissioned  by  St.  Vincent  in  1640  to 
visit  in  person  all  the  missionaries  employed  in  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  alms,  in  order  to  ascertain  how  the  alms  were  being 
used  and  at  the  same  time  to  take  special  note  of  the  cities 
most  in  need  of  assistance.  When  the  priests  of  the  Mission 
extended  their  relief  activities  to  Pont-a-Mousson  in  1640, 
they  received  from  the  four  parish  priests  of  the  city  a  list 
of  the  most  distressed  sick  and  of  the  poor  ashamed  to  beg. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  distribution  of  foods  was 
discontinued  in  1643  as  soon  as  the  needs  of  the  poor  per¬ 
mitted,  and  that  the  assistance,  which  was  continued,  was 
given,  for  example,  to  the  religious  “according  to  their  num¬ 
ber  and  their  needs.”  Abelly  says  expressly  of  this  after¬ 
relief  that  “everywhere  the  missionary  .  .  .  went  from 
parish  to  parish  and  from  house  to  house,  accompanied  by 
the  parish  priests,  or  other  ecclesiastics  commissioned  by 
them,  to  assist  him  in  distributing  these  clothes  and  alms 
according  to  the  needs  of  each, — the  distribution  being  made 

46  Idem,  ii.,  496.  St.  Vincent  was  at  times  hard-pressed  for  alms.  We 
read  in  one  of  his  letters  to  M.  le  Breton  at  Rome,  dated  Feb.  26,  1640:  “We 
continue  to  assist  these  poor  [of  Metz,  Toul,  Verdun,  Nancy]  with  500 
livres  per  month  in  each  of  the  said  cities;  but,  indeed.  Sir,  I  fear  we  cannot 
long  continue;  there  are  so  many  difficulties  to  obtain”  the  necessary  money. 
Lett.,  i.,  294. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


285 


in  their  presence  and  with  their  advice  so  that  he  could  not 
be  deceived  in  the  discernment  of  the  most  needy.”47  These 
incidental  remarks  of  St.  Vincent’s  first  historian  amply 
show  that  Vincent,  while  not  employing  a  technical  system 
of  case  investigation,  which  was  mostly  impossible  under 
the  circumstances,  still  insisted  that  relief  be  given  only  to 
the  real  needy  and  that  methods  sufficiently  thorough  to 
attain  this  purpose  be  employed. 

As  regards  case  records,  we  have  no  direct  evidence  but 
only  a  few  indications  that  point  to  a  kind  of  record  keeping. 
One  of  the  missionaries,  writing  from  Saint-Mihiel  in  1640, 
tells  St.  Vincent  that  1,132  poor  received  alms  at  the  last 
distribution  of  bread  that  had  been  made.48  This  number 
is  evidently  not  merely  a  conjecture,  but  the  result  of  a  strict 
account.  Another  missionary,  writing  to  St.  Vincent  in  the 
same  year  from  Bar-le-Duc,  states  that  twenty-five  or  thirtv 
poor  were  clothed  at  each  distribution  of  bread  and  that 
“within  a  short  time”  he  has  “clothed  altogether  two  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty.”49  Finally,  the  missionary  who  distributed 
the  alms  in  money  to  the  different  religious  communities  dur¬ 
ing  the  period  of  after-relief  demanded  a  receipt  from 
each  house.  The  evidence,  however,  does  not  tell  us 
why  these  receipts  were  taken,  nor  to  what  purpose  they 
were  put. 

Before  concluding  this  paragraph  we  might  make  men¬ 
tion  of  still  another  feature  of  St.  Vincent’s  method  of  pro¬ 
cedure  in  dealing  with  the  situation.  He  knew,  as  was  evi¬ 
dent  to  all,  that  the  war  was  immediately  responsible  for  the 
distress  of  Lorraine.  Hence  the  most  efficacious  means  of 
relieving  the  poverty  was  to  remove  the  cause.  Casting 
aside,  therefore,  all  human  respect  and  placing  at  stake  the 
favor  he  enjoyed  at  the  royal  court,  he  one  day  approached 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  the  all-powerful  prime  minister  of 
France,  pictured  to  him  the  sad  consequences  of  the  war  on 
the  moral  and  material  well-being  of  the  people,  and  pleaded 
for  a  speedy  peace.  Richelieu  took  the  remonstrance  in  good 
grace  and  promised  to  work  for  peace,  but  added  that  it  did 


47 Ibid.,  506. 

4S  Ibid.,  494. 

49  Ibid.,  497-8. 


286 


THE  CHARITIES 


not  depend  on  him  alone  but  on  many  others  within  and  with¬ 
out  the  realm.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  war  continued. 

B.  The  Relief  of  Picardy  and  Champagne 

The  Peace  of  Westphalia  terminated  the  Thirty  Years’ 
War  in  1648.  Spain,  however,  was  not  included  in  this  peace, 
and  her  war  with  France  continued  without  interruption 
until  the  Treaty  of  the  Pyrenees  in  1659.  This  war,  united  to 
the  civil  dissensions  of  the  Fronde  between  1648  and  1652, 
reduced  all  France  to  a  deplorable  state  of  misery.  But  the 
war  against  Spain,  as  the  French  Period  of  the  Thirty 
Years’  War  had  been,  was  waged  especially  in  the  northern 
provinces.  Hence  these  had  the  most  to  suffer.  St.  Vincent 
devoted  himself  principally  to  the  relief  of  the  two  provinces 
of  Picardy  and  Champagne,  while  other  religious  congrega¬ 
tions  were  performing  similar  services  in  other  provinces.50 

The  letters  written  to  St.  Vincent  from  these  provinces 
during  the  period  of  relief  disclose  a  misery  more  intense 
and  widespread  than  that  of  Lorraine  had  been  a  decade 
earlier.51  The  armies  harvested  and  carried  away  the  crops. 
The  fields  remained  uncultivated  and  unsown.  Some  entire 
cantons  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rheims  and  Rethel  were 
practically  deserted.  Only  “the  sick,  the  orphans,  and  the 
poor  widows  with  children”  remained.  Those  who  had 
escaped  death  had  fled  to  seek  a  livelihood  elsewhere.  At 
Guise  alone  more  than  five  hundred  sick  sought  refuge  ‘in 
caves  and  caverns  better  fitted  as  lodgings  for  beasts  than  for 
men,”  where,  as  the  reports  from  Rheims,  Rethel,  etc.,  relate, 
they  lay  “on  the  flat  ground,  without  linen  or  clothes  except 
some  paltry  tatters”  with  which  they  covered  themselves. 
“Most  of  the  inhabitants  [of  the  diocese  of  Soissons]  died  in 
the  woods  while  the  enemy  occupied  their  homes;”  the  sur¬ 
vivors  returned  to  their  dwellings,  but  only  to  die.  At  Saint- 
Quentin  hunger  forced  the  poor  refugees  from  the  woods  into 
the  city.  Among  them  were  “nearly  four  hundred  sick,  and 
the  city,  being  unable  to  assist  them,  made  half  of  them  pass 
on ;  they  died  one  after  the  other  along  the  highways while 


50  Cf.,  Z'.g.,  Lallemand,  Hist,  de  la  Char.,  iv.,  part  II.,  429-30. 
51  These  letters  are  cited  in  Abelly,  ii.,  51 1  sqq. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


287 


those  who  remained  in  the  city  were  so  naked  that  they  did 
“not  dare  to  rise  from  their  rotten  straw”  to  go  to  the  priests 
of  the  Mission  for  relief. 

Many  of  the  people  from  the  country  flocked  to  the  cities 
in  the  hope  of  finding  relief  and  protection,  but  only  disap¬ 
pointment  awaited  them.  Twelve  hundred,  for  example, 
sought  refuge  in  Saint-Quentin,  but  there  were  already  seven 
or  eight  thousand  poor  in  the  city  famishing  with  hunger. 
Everywhere  there  were  found  prominent  families  who  were, 
on  the  one  hand,  ashamed  to  beg,  and,  on  the  other,  as  one 
letter  expresses  it,  there  was  none  from  whom  to  beg  even 
had  they  desired  to  do  so,  since  the  evil  of  war  had  intro¬ 
duced  an  equality  of  misery  everywhere. 

To  what  extremes  the  poor  were  reduced  through  lack 
of  food  is  seen,  for  example,  from  a  letter  from  Saint- 
Quentin.  “The  famine  is  such,”  it  says,  “that  we  see  men 
eating  ground,  browsing  grass,  pulling  off  the  bark  of  trees, 
rending  the  wretched  tatters  wherewith  they  are  covered 
in  order  to  swallow  them.  But,  what  we  would  not  venture 
to  mention  if  we  had  not  seen  it  and  which  horrifies,  they 
eat  their  arms  and  their  hands  and  die  in  desperation.” 

Many  of  the  convents  of  religious  women,  too,  were  in 
great  need.  The  inmates,  suffering  from  cold  and  hunger, 
were  confronted  with  the  alternative  of  dying  in  the  cloister, 
or  of  leaving  their  convents  to  wander  over  the  devastated 
regions  in  quest  of  food.  Also  a  large  number  of  girls  were 
in  constant  danger  of  suffering  moral  shipwreck. 

Another  problem  which  the  missionaries  had  to  deal  with 
was  the  burying  of  the  dead.  Those  laboring  in  the  districts 
of  Guise,  Laon  and  La  Fere  report  that  “there  are  many  who 
die  in  the  villages  .  .  . ;  no  one  is  found  to  give  them  burial 
after  death.”  Letters  from  the  diocese  of  Soissons  inform 
us  that  the  missionaries  found  “the  living  with  the  dead ; 
little  children  beside  their  dead  mothers.”  In  the  districts 
around  Rheims  and  Bethel  the  bodies  were  left  “without 
burial  and  exposed  for  the  most  part  to  serve  as  prey  for 
wolves.”  Cases  similar  to  the  above  were  of  usual  occur¬ 
rence.  To  what  dimensions  the  problem  grew  in  the  wake 
of  the  armies  is  illustrated  by  an  example  preserved  by 
Abelly.  “After  the  battle  which  was  fought  in  Champagne 


288 


THE  CHARITIES 


near  Saint-Etienne  and  Saint-Souplet  in  1651/’  he  says, 
“more  than  fifteen  hundred  of  the  enemy  remained”  on  the 
battlefield  to  become  the  prey  of  dogs  and  wolves,  decom¬ 
posing  in  the  meantime  and  contaminating  the  air. 

The  spiritual  destitution  of  the  poor  people  was  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  their  material  misery.  Around  Guise,  Laon,  and 
La  Fere  the  greater  part  of  the  parish  priests  were  either 
dead  or  sick  and  the  churches  ruined  and  pillaged.  In  the 
diocese  of  Laon  alone  there  were  about  a  hundred  churches 
where  Mass  could  not  be  celebrated  because  all  the  altar 
utensils  had  been  stolen.  The  churches  at  Soissons,  to  quote 
the  report,  “have  been  profaned ;  the  Blessed  Sacrament  has 
been  trampled  under  foot,  the  chalices  and  the  ciboria 
carried  away,  the  baptismal  fonts  broken,  the  ornaments  pil¬ 
laged  ;  so  that  there  are  in  this  little  country  more  than 
twenty-five  churches  where  Mass  cannot  be  celebrated.”  As 
late  as  1657,  St.  Vincent  told  the  Ladies  of  Charity  that 
there  were  still  about  eighty  ruined  churches  in  these 
provinces  which  he  expected  them  to  assist.  In  consequence 
the  people  were  deprived  of  the  consolations  of  religion  in 
the  midst  of  their  trials  and  died  without  the  aid  of  the 
sacraments. 

We  can  form  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  misery  of  the 
two  provinces  especially  during  the  first  years  when  we 
recall  that  Abelly52  mentions  by  name  thirty-nine  cities  and 
includes  many  other  towns  and  villages  under  such  general 
terms  as  “and  other  places,”  “and  some  hundred  and  thirty 
villages  of  the  neighborhood,”  “and  about  thirty  villages 
of  this  valley,”  etc.,  as  being  only  the  ones  “more  particularly 
assisted  by  the  charitable  efforts  of  St.  Vincent.” 

We  might  be  tempted  to  think  that  the  reports  from 
which  we  have  been  quoting  present  only  the  extreme 
cases  in  order  to  arouse  the  greater  sympathy  of  St.  Vincent 
and  the  Ladies  at  Paris  and  thus  to  obtain  more  abundant 
alms.  But  a  glance  at  Feillet’s  La  miser e  an  temps  de  la 
Fronde  et  Saint  Vincent  de  Paid  expels  any  such  thought. 
After  a  thorough  study  of  original  documents  pertaining  to 
that  period  he  is  forced  to  the  confession  that  it  is  the  most 


52  Abelly,  i.,  276-7;  Idem,  ii.,  516. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


289 


conspicuous  in  the  history  of  France  for  misery,  mortality, 
diminution  of  national  wealth,  and  moral  degradation. 
(Preface,  p.  iii.) 

It  seems  certain  that  the  work  of  relief  was  inaugurated 
by  the  Jansenist  M.  Charles  Maignart  de  Bernieres,  an 
official  of  the  parliament  of  Rouen.  He  united  with  other 
zealous  individuals  of  the  provinces  to  relieve  the  stricken 
poor.  Friend  and  disciple  of  Port-Royal,  the  center  of  Jan¬ 
senism,  he  found  support  in  the  Jansenists  and  in  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  It  is  only  in  the  summer  of 
1650  that  we  find  the  first  mention  made  of  St'  Vincent’s 
activities.  He  soon  has  complete  charge  of  the  work.  How 
or  why  the  change  took  place  is  shrouded  in  obscurity.53 
But  whatever  the  cause,  the  change  of  direction,  as  Feillet 
aptly  remarks  (p.  244),  was  a  fortunate  one.  In  a  disor¬ 
ganized  society  and  in  the  midst  of  a  bloody  anarchy  a  large 
and  complete  organization  was  first  of  all  necessary,  and 
Port-Royal,  with  its  small  community,  was  not  in  a  position 
to  furnish  it.  St.  Vincent,  however,  was  able  from  the  first 
to  send  two  trained  corps  into  the  field,  the  Priests  of  the 
Mission  and  the  Daughters  of  Charity,  who  had  been  appren¬ 
ticed  in  the  relief  of  public  miseries  during  the  disasters  of 
Lorraine. 

St.  Vincent’s  organization  and  methods  in  the  relief  of 
Picardy  and  Champagne  were  in  general  the  same  as  those 
employed  in  the  relief  of  Lorraine,  though  we  detect  some 
distinct  improvements  in  detail.  Here,  as  in  the  case  of 
Lorraine,  all  the  assistance  emanated  from  Paris.  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  was  the  inspiration  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  Ladies 
of  Charity  its  principal  financial  support.  The  letters  from 
the  workers  in  the  provinces  were  again  the  vehicle  by  which 
the  needs  of  the  poor  were  brought  before  the  people,  appeals 
made,  and  the  distribution  of  the  alms  made  known  to  the 
benefactors.  We  find  an  improvement,  however,  in  the  fact 
that  they  were  now  printed  in  pamphlet  form  for  circula¬ 
tion  [See  pp.  134-5]. 

53  Feillet,  226-30.  It  may  well  be.  as  Feillet  remarks  (p.  241),  that  St. 
Vincent’s  tardiness  in  undertaking  the  work  is  explained  by  his  enforced 
absence  from  the  city  from  the  autumn  of  1648  until  June,  1649  [see  p.  312]. 
And  upon  his  return,  seeing  M.  de  Bernieres  at  >vork,  he  probably  did  not 
wish  to  intervene  until  circumstances  made  it  expedient  or  necessary. 


290 


THE  CHARITIES 


The  money  collected  and  received  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  treasurer  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  the  weekly 
meetings.  The  alms  in  kind,  especially  clothing,  were 
brought  to  the  homes  of  certain  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity. 
St.  Vincent  once  said  of  these  homes  that  they  had  “become 
as  warehouses  and  shops  of  wholesale  dealers.”54 

At  the  weekly  meetings  St.  Vincent  informed  the  Ladies 
of  the  more  urgent  needs  of  the  provinces  as  communicated 
to  him  by  the  missionaries  in  the  field.  They  discussed  the 
best  remedies  and  disposed  accordingly  of  the  alms  on  hand. 
Practically  the  entire  disposition  of  the  alms  was  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Ladies.  St.  Vincent  in  issuing  his  orders 
to  the  missioners  was  merely  carrying  out  their  will.  We 
read,  for  example,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Jean  Parre,  a  lay 
brother  of  the  Mission  and  one  of  the  most  indefatigable 
workers  in  the  provinces :  “The  Ladies  have  ordered  nothing 
new  for  you :  they  are  waiting  for  you  to  see  some  places 
the  most  proper  and  most  needy  in  order  to  distribute  some 

seeds  there.”55  In  another  letter  to  the  same  brother  St. 

\ 

Vincent  writes :  “The  assembly  of  yesterday,  seeing  that 
the  poor  of  the  environs  of  Rethel  assail  you  from  all  sides'  in 
order  to  receive  some  assistance  in  their  great  poverty,  has 
ordered  two  hundred  livres  for  you  in  order  that  you  may 
distribute  them  to  the  most  needy ;  you  will  take  them,  if  you 
please,  and  draw  a  bill  of  exchange  for  it  on  the  above  Mile. 
Viole.”56 

We  may  quote,  finally,  from  another  letter  as  illustrating 
even  in  what  details  the  Ladies  of  Charity  took  interest, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  what  extent  the  workers  in  the 
provinces  were  dependent  on  instructions  from  Paris.  “Our 
Ladies  have  considered  the  two  samples  of  linsey-woolsey 
which  you  have  sent,”  he  writes  again  to  Jean  Parre,  then 
at  Ham  in  Picardy.  “They  find  it  good  for  the  price,  and  are 
of  the  opinion  that  you  should  buy  eight  hundred  livres 


54  Lett.,  iii.,  323,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28,  1656; 
Ibid.,  ii.,  532.  Cf.  also  Ibid.,  468;  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  204;  Coste,  159. 

55  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  138,  No.  3115,  Sept.  6,  1659. 

56  Lett.,  iii.,  675-6,  No.  1548,  Nov.  17,  1657.  Mile.  Viole  was  the  treasurer 
of  the  Ladies  of  Charity.  St.  Vincent  frequently  instructs  the  missionaries 
in  the  provinces  during  this  period  to  draw  like  bills  of  exchange  on  Mile. 
Viole’s  account. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


291 


worth  of  it,  and  rather  of  gray  than  of  another  color  if  you 
find  enough  of  it  for  so  much  money,  both  because  it  is  more 
proper  for  the  poor  people  .  .  .,  and  because  it  can  be  pur¬ 
chased  cheaper.  One  does  not  think  that  there  is  enough  to 
be  gained  in  going  for  it  to  Amiens,  presupposing  that  these 
stuffs  can  be  had  in  the  other  nearer  cities.  .  .  .  You  can 
draw  ...  a  bill  of  exchange  for  this  amount  on  Mile. 
Viole.”57 

The  organization  of  the  workers  in  the  provinces  was 
more  thorough  during  this  period  than  during  the  relief  of 
Lorraine.  St.  Vincent  appointed  a  prudent  member  of  his 
Congregation,  probably  Rene  Almeras,  later  superior  gen¬ 
eral  of  the  Mission,  as  general  supervisor  of  this  charitable 
undertaking  and  of  the  missionaries  engaged  in  it.  He  came 
and  went  from  place  to  place  in  order  to  acquaint  himself 
with  the  localities  most  distressed  and  with  the  true  needs  of 
the  poor.  It  was  his  further  duty,  in  the  cities  and  villages 
where  the  missionaries  could  not  tarry,  to  select  a  number 
of  pious  and  charitable  persons  upon  whom  he  could  rely 
to  make  a  faithful  distribution  of  the  food  and  the  other 
alms  which  he  allotted  to  them.  He  also  regulated  the 
expenses  for  the  entire  territory.  He  increased  or  retrenched 
the  allowances  according  to  the  number  of  the  poor  and  the 
sick  in  each  place.  He  rendered  his  accounts  of  all  these 
matters  to  St.  Vincent  by  letter. 

The  personnel  immediately  charged  with  the  administra¬ 
tion  of  relief  during  the  first  few  years  when  the  misery  was 
greatest,  comprised  eight  or  ten5S  priests  and  lay  brothers 
of  the  Mission,  together  with  a  number  of  the  Daughters  of 
Charity. 

The  missionaries  were  divided  into  bands,  each  band 
being  assigned  a  specific  district  generally  outlined  by  the 
diocesan  limits.  But  the  workers  were  few  and  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  extent  and  intensity  of  the  needed  relief. 
It  was  impossible,  therefore,  for  the  missionaries  to  remain 
for  any  length  of  time  in  one  place.  They  were  obliged  to 
relieve  in  haste  the  more  urgent  needs  and  then  pass  on  to 

57  Lett.,  iii.,  515-6,  No.  1432,  July  28,  1657. 

58  Abelly,  i.,  277.  Or,  according  to  the  same  author  (vol.  ii.,  516,  and 
Lett.,  ii.,  429,  No.  871,  May  22,  1652),  ten  or  twelve. 


292 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  neighboring  town  or  village.  Before  departing,  however, 
they  organized,  wherever  possible,  an  emergency  relief  band, 
selecting  for  this  purpose  virtuous  and  reliable  persons  with 
whom  they  left  money  and  remedies  with  instructions  for  the 
care  of  the  sick  and  to  whom  they  forwarded  other  alms 
from  time  to  time  as  necessity  demanded. 

In  some  places  these  organizations  took  on  a  more  per¬ 
manent  form.  The  missionaries  assembled  the  most  promi¬ 
nent  ladies  of  the  place  and  organized  them  into  a  stable 
confraternity  after  the  manner  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at 
Paris  and  placed  them  under  the  direction  of  a  conscientious 
parish  priest.  Such  was  the  case,  for  example,  at  Rheims, 
Saint-Quentin,  and  Ham.  But  it  was  especially  when  the 
misery  had  somewhat  abated  after  the  first  few*  years  that 
these  confraternities  were  established  in  most  of  the  larger 
cities  of  Picardy  and  Champagne  in  deference  to 
instructions  received  from  St.  Vincent  to  continue  the 
good  work  of  the  missionaries  after  their  final 
departure.59 

While  the  lay  brothers  of  the  Mission  were  engaged 
almost  exclusively  in  material  relief,  the  priests  charged 
themselves  with  the  further  duty  of  caring  for  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  poor  people.  They  visited  the  parishes  bereft 
of  pastors,  gave  instructions,  administered  the  sacraments, 
and  repaired  as  best  they  could  the  churches  that  had  been 
pillaged  and  profaned  by  the  soldiery. 

Vincent  considered  the  rehabilitation  of  the  clergy  of 
prime  importance.  In  describing  the  work  of  the  Parisian 
Ladies  of  Charity  in  behalf  of  these  provinces,  he  writes  in 
one  of  his  letters :  “They  first  give  the  parish  priests  or 
some  other  priests  the  means  of  subsistence  that  they  may 
assist  them  [the  poor  people]  spiritually.”60  This  method  of 
procedure  offered  a  double  advantage.  In  the  first  place,  it 
left  the  missionaries  free  to  devote  themselves  to  the  more 
specific  work  of  relief,  and  secondly,  the  individual  parish 
priests  could  then  be  charged  with  the  direction  of  the  Ladies 


59  Abellv,  ii.,  526;  Ibid.,  641,  Pieces  Justificatives,  III.;  Avis  et  Confer, 
aux  Membres  de  la  Congrcg.,  193,  No.  63,  Confer,  of  June  9,  1656;  Lett.,  iv., 
344,  No.  1841,  To  Jean  Parre,  May  17,  1659. 

60  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


293 


of  Charity  where  organized,  or  at  least,  with  the  supervision 
of  relief  within  their  parishes. 

In  some  cases  the  priests  in  need  were  given  direct 
financial  aid.  A  report  from  Picardy,  dated  1651,  for 
example,  says :  “We  give  two  hundred  livres  per  month  for 
the  sustenance  of  a  number  of  other  parish  priests.  By 
means  of  this  assistance  all  the  parishes  of  the  deaneries  of 
Guise,  Marie  and  Vervins  are  served,  or,  at  least,  in  each  of 
them  Holy  Mass  is  celebrated  once  a  week  and  the  sacra¬ 
ments  are  administered  there. ”  A  second  report  from 
Picardy  of  the  same  year  states  that  “forty  parish  priests 
have  had  a  relief  of  ten  livres  per  month  each,  and  by  this 
means  have  been  enabled  to  reside  in  their  parishes  and  to 
perform  all  the  pastoral  functions.”61 

Another  method  of  assisting  the  needy  priests  which  St. 
Vincent  employed,  consisted  in  sending  them  Mass  offer¬ 
ings.  We  learn  from  one  of  his  letters  that  a  lady  of  Paris 
had  promised  five  hundred  livres  “to  have  Masses  read  by 
the  poor  priests  of  the  frontier”  and  that  she  was  forward¬ 
ing  the  offerings  in  installments.62  In  a  letter  of  an  earlier 
date  to  the  lay  brother  Jean  Parre  at  Rheims,  containing 
instructions  for  the  distribution  of  alms,  he  says :  “You 
draw  also  twenty-one  livres  on  Mile.  Viole’s  account  to  have 
Masses  said  by  the  priests  most  in  need  according  to  the 
intention  of  the  benefactors.”63 

A  final  method  of  assisting  the  impoverished  clergy  con¬ 
sisted  in  supplying  them  with  the  means  of  restoring  their 
churches  and  with  the  different  articles  necessary  for  the 
celebration  of  Mass.  St.  Vincent,  for  example,  in  a  confer¬ 
ence  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  Paris,  tells  them  that  “albs, 
chasubles,  missals,  ciboria,  etc.,”  have  been  distributed  in 
great  numbers.64  A  report  from  the  provinces  of  1654 
states :  “We  have  also  furnished  their  churches  with  orna¬ 
ments  and  missals.”  The  report  then  continues :  “We  have 
had  the  necessary  repairs  made  in  the  roof  and  the  windows 


61  Abelly,  ii.,  519-21. 

62  Lett.,  iv.,  402.  No.  1886.  To  Jean  Parre  at  Saint-Quentin,  July  12,  1659. 

63  Lett.,  iii.,  628,  No.  1511,  Oct.  20,  1657;  Ibid.,  639.  No.  1522,  Oct.  27, 
1657. 

64  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  203;  Coste,  159. 


294 


THE  CHARITIES 


to  hinder  the  rain  from  falling  on  the  sacred  Host  and  the 
wind  from  blowing  it  away  during  the  celebration  of 
Mass.”65  In  one  of  Vincent’s  letters  to  Jean  Parre  we  read : 
“One  wishes  to  make  an  effort  to  help  put  the  most  devas¬ 
tated  churches  in  a  state  that  one  can  celebrate  Mass  there 
with  some  decency.  You  are  requested,  therefore,  to  see 
which  ones  are  in  the  greater  need  of  this  and  where  only  a 
little  is  needed ;  for  one  does  not  intend  to  give  much.”66 

St.  Vincent  not  only  furnished  necessary  money  for  the 
restoration  of  these  churches,  but  also  at  times  supplied  a 
part  of  the  labor.  Thus  he  writes  again  to  Jean  Parre : 
“Although  I  have  told  M.  Bourdin,  the  grand  vicar  of  Noyon, 
that  you  will  help  ten  or  twelve  days  in  erecting  the  chapel 
and  in  doing  all  that  which  is  necessary,  you  can  nevertheless 
remain  there  longer  if  there  be  need;  and  the  Ladies  [of 
Charity  at  Paris]  leave  it  to  your  discretion  to  employ  the 
time  which  you  will  deem  proper,  and  to  depart  thence  when 
it  will  be  required  to  go  elsewhere  to  assist  the  poor  and  to 
visit  the  assemblies  of  the  Ladies,  and  then  to  return  to  this 

r~ 

chapel  if  your  presence  is  useful  there.”67 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  who  were  employed  in  the 
provinces  during  this  period,  devoted  themselves  almost 
exclusively  to  the  care  of  the  poor  sick,  and  more  particu¬ 
larly  to  the  sick  in  the  army  hospitals.  Some  of  them  were 
sent  to  nurse  the  wounded  soldiers  at  Sedan  in  1654  at  the 
request  of  the  queen  mother.  Before  their  departure  St. 
Vincent  congratulated  them  on  the  honor  that  was  theirs 
and  admonished  them  to  perform  their  trying  task  of  caring 
for  the  corporal  and,  as  far  as  compatible,  also  the  spiritual 
needs  of  their  patients  with  “the  charity,  the  humility,  and 
the  simplicity”  peculiar  to  their  institution,  ever  ready  to 
forego  the  spiritual  exercises  prescribed  by  their  rule  when 
duty  detained  them  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick,  stifling  all 
promptings  of  self-complacency  and  vain  glory,  regardless 
alike  of  the  praise  and  blame  of  men.68 

Four  Daughters' of  Charity  had  been  sent  to  help  nurse 


65  Abelly,  ii.,  521. 

06  Lett.,  iv.,  401-2,  No.  1886,  July  12,  1659. 

67  Ibid.,  402,  No.  1886,  July  12,  1659. 

68  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  i.,  630-5,  No.  54,  July  20,  1654. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


295 


five  or  six  hundred  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  in  the  army 
hospital  at  Calais.  One  or  two  of  them  succumbed  to  the 
task  and  the  others  were  taken  ill.  Again  at  the  request  of 
the  queen  mother  an  additional  four  were  sent  in  1658. 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  also  nursed  the  soldiers  and 
peasants  in  the  hospital  at  Rethel.  The  number  of  the 
patients  here  increased  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  institu¬ 
tion,  and  as  many  as  seven  hundred  were  transferred  at 
different  times  to  the  hospital  at  Rheims.  The  patients 
continued  to  increase  in  number  and  the  expenses  became 
excessive.  It  was  then  decided  to  have  the  lay  brothers  of 
the  Mission  bring  various  remedies  from  Paris  “and  in  par¬ 
ticular  certain  very  specific  powders  for  dysenteries,  fevers, 
and  other  inveterate  ills,  which  the  infirmarian  of  the  house 
of  Saint-Lazare  compounded.”69  The  results  were  very 
satisfactory.  “They  cured  a  very  great  number  of  sick  who 
were  reduced  to  extremes  by  illnesses  almost  hopeless,  and 
many  of  them  were  delivered  within  twenty-four  hours  or 
thereabouts.”70 

The  missionaries  on  their  charitable  missions  through 
the  provinces  found  some  “hospitals  abandoned  or  ill  reg¬ 
ulated.”  They  reestablished  order  and  agreed  with  the 
administrators  to  receive  a  certain  number  of  sick  for  six 
or  seven  sous  per  day  each.  “This  money  was  punctually 
paid  them  by  order  of  St.  Vincent  and  through  the  liberal¬ 
ities  of  the  assemblies  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  Paris.”71 

In  other  places  remedies  were  distributed  to  the  sick 
along  with  the  other  alms  or  the  sick  were  left  in  the  care 
of  the  temporary  or  permanent  organizations  of  which  we 
made  mention  above.  A  physician  was  kept  in  attendance 
wherever  he  could  be  procured.  Thus  Pere  Rainssant,  canon 


69  We  have  already  seen  that  the  brothers  of  the  Mission  compounded 
and  administered  medicines  during  the  relief  of  Lorraine  [cf.  p.  279].  As 
regards  the  present  period,  we  know  there  were  at  least  one  or  the  other 
expert  druggist  and  surgeon  among  the  brothers  of  the  Congregation.  St. 
Vincent,  for  example,  probably  in  1651,  wrote  a  letter  to  a  brother  of  the 
Mission  at  Rome,  who  was  skilled  both  as  a  physician  and  as  a  surgeon 
(Lett.,  ii.,  306-8,  No.  767).  In  1656  a  brother  was  studying  pharmacy  at  an 
apothecary’s  shop  (Lett.,  iii.,  234.  No.  1195,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin, 
Jan.  28,  1656). 

70  Abelly,  ii,  523. 

71  Ibid.,  522-3. 


296 


THE  CHARITIES 


regular  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augustine  and  pastor  of  the  city 
of  Ham,  reports  that  “all  the  sick  of  the  city  are  well  cared 
for;  there  is  a  good  physician  who  visits  them  and  orders 
all  that  is  necessary  for  them.  We  have  care  that  nothing  is 
wanting  to  them.”72 

As  for  other  places  the  reports  say  nothing  as  to  method 
but  merely  state  that  the  sick  were  carefully  and  successfully 
attended.  Thus  we  read  in  one  report  that  “our  workers 
have  taken  such  care  of  the  sick  that,  by  the  grace  of  God,  in 
the  city  of  Guise  alone,  of  five  hundred  sick  that  were  there, 
more  than  three  hundred  have  been  cured ;  and  in  forty 
villages  of  the  neighborhood  of  Laon  there  is  such  a  number 
restored  to  perfect  health  that  one  would  experience  great 
difficulty  in  finding  six  poor  who  are  not  in  a  condition  to 
earn  their  living.”  Another  report  informs  us  that  “many 
of  our  sick  are  restored  to  health  and  are  in  a  condition  to 
earn  their  living.”73 

Soup,  bread,  meat,  sweetmeats,  clothes,  shoes,  and  money 
were  distributed  to  meet  the  respective  needs  of  the  poor  as 
far  as  the  supply  of  the  alms  permitted.  A  report  sent  to 
St.  Vincent  one  month  after  the  relief  work  was  inaugurated 
states  that  “the  soups  given  as  alms  from  Paris  to  the  sick 
refugees  at  Guise,  Riblemont,  La  Fere,  and  Ham,  have  saved 
the  lives  of  more  than  two  thousand  poor,  who,  without  this 
help,  would  have  been  cast  out  of  these  cities  where  they  had 
sought  refuge  and  would  have  died  out  in  the  fields  without 
any  assistance,  either  spiritual  or  corporal.”74 

In  describing  the  relief  of  the  provinces,  St.  Vincent 
writes  to  a  confrere  that  the  missionaries  “distribute  in  each 
place  the  clothes  .  .  .  and  money  which  one  sends  them.”75 
The  report  of  1654,  for  example,  informs  us  that  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  had  “clothed  more  than  four  hundred”  poor, 
besides  “almost  six  hundred  orphans  below  the  age  of  twelve 

72  Ibid.,  528.  During  this  same  time  St.  Vincent,  in  accordance  v  ith  the 
wishes  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity  of  Paris,  instructs  a  cleric  of  the  Mission 
who  is  bringing  relief  to  twenty-two  villages  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lagny, 
to  “make  a  bargain  with  the  surgeon  ...  to  visit  and  attend  the  sick  who 
have  need  of  it  every  two  days.”  Lett.,  ii.,  498,  Xo.  92c.  To  Frere  Sene  at 
Lagny,  Nov.  24,  1652. 

73  Abelly,  ii.,  519-20. 

74  Ibid.,  518. 

75  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  Xo.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  burin,  July  28,  T656. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


297 


years,”  who  were  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Laon  “in  a 
pitiable  state  of  nudity  and  necessity.”70 

We  read  in  a  conference  of  St.  Vincent  to  the  Ladies  of 
Charity  that  money  was  distributed  “in  the  cities  and 
environs  of  Rheims,  Rethel,  Laon,  Saint-Quentin,  Ham, 
Maries,  Sedan,  and  Arras.”77  But  no  details  are  given,  and 
hence  here  again  we  are  unable  to  discover  whether  or  not 
St.  Vincent  had  any  particular  norm  by  which  he  decided 
whether  to  give  relief  in  money  or  in  kind. 

As  during  the  relief  of  Lorraine,  so  also  during  this 
period,  the  missionaries  had  occasion  to  protect  the  girls 
whose  virtue  was  endangered.  In  some  cases  these  girls 
were  given  the  means  of  livelihood,  as  in  and  around  Saint- 
Quentin ;  m  others,  they  were  removed  from  danger  and 
transferred  to  places  of  safety  [see  pp.  252-3]. 

Special  care  was  taken  of  the  orphans.  St.  Vincent 
informs  the  Ladies  of  Charity  at  the  general  assembly  of 
July  11,  1657,  that  their  alms  are  being  used,  among  other 
purposes,  “to  receive  and  maintain  about  eight  hundred 
orphan  children  of  the  ruined  villages,  both  boys  and  girls, 
whom  one  has  placed  in  a  trade  or  in  service  after  having 
been  instructed  and  clothed.”  In  1654  the  missionaries 
report  that  the  alms  received  from  Paris  afforded  them  “the 
means  of  clothing  and  assisting”  almost  six  hundred  orphans 
below  the  age  of  twelve  in  the  neighborhood  of  Laon. 

In  some  places,  and,  it  seems,  wherever  possible,  the 
orphans  were  given  over  to  the  care  of  the  women  who  were 
organized  for  relief  work,7S  while  the  missionaries  in  cases 
of  necessity  furnished  the  means  of  support.  The  boys  they 
placed  as  apprentices  in  an  easy  trade  at  an  early  age ;  the 
girls  they  placed  in  service. 

At  Ham  the  orphan  girls  were  cared  for  “all  in  the  same 
house.”  The  parish  priest,  as  he  informs  us  in  his  report, 
taught  them  the  truths  of  the  Catholic  faith,  while  a  religious 
from  the  hospital  came  daily  to  train  them  in  their  prayers 


76  Abelly,  ii..  52r. 

77  Lett,  ct  Confer.  (Suppl.),  203,  No.  6,  Confer,  at  Gen.  Assembly  of 
July  11,  1657. 

78  Cf.  Abelly,  ii.,  326:  Aids  et  Confer,  an. r  Membrcs  de  la  Congrcg.,  193. 
No.  63,  Confer,  of  June  9.  1656. 


298 


THE  CHARITIES 


and  in  assisting  at  Mass.  They  were  taught  “a  trade  which 
within  a  few  months”  would  “enable  them  to  gain  their  own 
livelihood.”79  The  report  fails  to  mention  the  nature  of  the 
trade  as  well  as  the  persons  who  taught  it.  The  missionaries 
left  money  and  wheat  for  the  support  of  the  orphanage. 

The  Irish  refugees,  driven  from  their  country  by  Crom¬ 
well,  presented  a  special  problem.  Many  of  them  had  been 
forced  to  join  the  army  in  France.  After  the  campaigns  of 
Bordeaux  and  Arras,  they  withdrew  to  Troyes.  They 
arrived  here  in  a  sorry  plight.  They  had  with  them  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  orphans  and  a  large  number  of 
widows,  bare-footed  and  clothed  only  with  the  tatters  of 
those  who  had  died  in  battle.  They  were  seen  marching 
through  the  streets  of  the  city  collecting  the  food  which  the 
dogs  had  left. 

The  missionaries  of  Troyes  informed  St.  Vincent  of  the 
situation.  He  in  turn  informed  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and 
dispatched  a  missionary  of  Irish  birth  to  their  assistance. 
In  obedience  to  the  instructions  of  St.  Vincent,  he  had  the 
widows  and  girls  taken  into  the  hospital  of  Saint-Nicolas, 
where  they  learned  to  spin  and  sew.  Special  care  was  given 
to  orphan  infants.  All  were  lodged,  clothed  and  assisted. 
For  this  purpose  six  hundred  livres  and  a  quantity  of  clothes 
and  other  necessaries  were  transmitted  from  Paris.  Other 
remittances  followed  from  time  to  time,  as  necessity 
demanded. 

The  priest  of  the  Mission  also  looked  after  the  spiritual 
needs  of  his  people.  He  preached  to  them  twice  a  week 
during  Lent  to  dispose  them  for  their  Easter  Communion, 
besides  discharging  the  ordinary  pastoral  functions. 

These  efforts  of  charity  aroused  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city  from  their  lethargy.  They  began  to  render  assistance 
not  only  to  these  poor  foreigners,  but  likewise  to  all  their 
own  citizens  in  need  of  relief. 

Another  field  in  which  St.  Vincent  and  his  coworkers 
showed  themselves  active  was  in  the  burying  of  the  dead. 
We  shall  cite  but  one  example.  When  St.  Vincent  was 
informed  of  the  fifteen  hundred  dead  that  were  left  on  the 


79  Abellv,  ii.,  527-8. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


299 


field  after  the  battles  in  the  neighborhood  of  Saint-Etienne 
and  Saint-Souplet  in  1651,  he  commissioned  the  priest  of 
the  Mission  who  was  at  work  in  this  section  to  hire  a  number 
of  men  by  the  day  to  perform  this  work  of  corporal  mercy. 
The  heat  for  a  time  threatened  to  hamper  the  work  and,  as 
the  missionary  later  stated,  had  the  heat  come  in  the  begin¬ 
ning,  the  men  could  not  have  been  induced  to  undertake 
the  task  for  a  thousand  crowns.  But  under  the  skillful 
direction  of  the  missionary  the  work  was  accomplished 
with  dispatch  and  at  the  comparative  low  cost  of  three  hun¬ 
dred  livres. 

Throughout  the  entire  period  of  relief  St.  Vincent  had 
insisted  on  placing  the  poor  in  a  condition  to  earn  their  own 
livelihood.  In  one  of  his  letters  concerning  the  use  of  alms 
in  the  provinces,  he  propounds  as  a  general  principle  that 
“when  anyone  has  sufficient  strength  to  work,  one  buys  him 
some  tools  conformable  to  his  profession  and  gives  him 
nothing  more.”  From  this  he  deducts  the  practical  con¬ 
clusion  that  “the  alms  are  not  for  those  who  are  capable  of 
working  on  the  fortifications  or  of  doing  anything  else.”80 

In  a  letter  to  Jean  Parre,  he  wishes  that  the  brother 
“continue  to  take  care  .  .  .  that  a  portion  [of  the  alms] 
be  destined  to  aid  the  poor  people  to  sow  a  little  plot 
of  ground”  and  that  he  “see  to  it  that  all  the  other  poor 
people  who  possess  no  land,  earn  their  living  (both  men  and 
women)  by  giving  the  men  some  implements  to  work  and  the 
girls  and  women  spinning  wheels  and  tow  or  wool  to  spin.”81 

Another  feature  of  St.  Vincent’s  relief  work  was  the 
discriminate  use  he  insisted  be  made  of  the  alms.  In  the 
first  place  he  himself  visited  the  devastated  provinces  about 
1651  in  order  to  ascertain  the  true  extent  of  the  misery,  as 
several  historians  attest.82  Moreover,  the  priests  and  the 
brothers  of  the  Mission  were  commissioned  not  only  to  dis¬ 
tribute  alms  in  the  provinces,  but  also,  as  St.  Vincent  writes, 
to  “visit  the  devastated  districts  and  learn  the  number  and 


so  Lett.,  ii.,  330.  No.  789,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  April  26,  1651. 

S1  Lett.,  iv.,  436,  No.  1913,  Aug.  9,  1659.  That  the  missionaries  engaged 
in  the  distribution  of  alms  followed  this  policy  of  St.  Vincent,  is  amply 
evidenced  in  their  reports  concerning  the  use  made  of  the  alms  received  [see 

p.  160]. 

82  Abelly,  ii.,  639,  Pieces  Justificative s ,  III. 


300 


THE  CHARITIES 


the  needs  of  the  poor,  both  the  sick  and  others,  who  cannot 
gain  a  livelihood.”83 

In  another  letter  Vincent  informs  Jean  Parre  that  the 
benefactors  have  specified  “a  small  amount  with  which  to 
aid  some  poor  people  to  sow  a  small  plot  of  ground.”  In 
order  that  the  brother  might  distribute  it  .judiciously,  he 
adds  by  way  of  emphasis :  “I  say  the  poorest,  who  without 
succor  would  not  be  able  to  do  it.”  In  the  same  letter  and 
regarding  the  disposition  of  the  same  alms,  he  instructs  the 
brother  to  learn  “in  what  districts  of  Champagne  and 
Picardy  the  poorer  people  are  to  be  found  who  have  need  of 
this  assistance.”  And  to  emphasize  still  more  that  only  the 
most  distressed  are  to  receive  help,  he  adds :  “I  say  the 
greatest  need.”84 

He  instructs  the  same  brother  to  visit  a  certain  family 
at  Rheims  secretly  and  to  assist  it  with  alms  if  he  find  it  “in 
great  need.”  “In  going  and  coming,”  he  writes  again, 
“observe  the  churches  which  are  the  most  demolished  and 
make  a  little  note  of  them,  as  also  of  the  most  needy  poor.” 
And  again :  “You  are  requested,  therefore,  to  see  those 
[churches]  which  have  the  greater  need”  of  being  repaired 
“and  where  only  some  little  thing  is  necessary,  for  one  does 
not  intend  to  give  much.”85 

Enormous  sums  were  required  to  finance  the  relief  work. 
During  the  nine  or  ten  years  that  assistance  was  given  to 
the  two  provinces,  more  than  600,000  livres  of  alms  in  money 
and  kind  have  been  recorded  as  distributed.  If,  however, 
to  this  sum  were  added  the  alms  of  which  St.  Vincent  did 
not  have  to  render  an  account  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  it  is 
estimated  that  it  would  amount  to  approximately  two  million 
livres.  Moreover,  it  would  be  necessary  to  triple  this  sum 
to  arrive  at  the  actual  value. 

During  the  first  years  the  expenses  amounted  to  ten, 
twelve,  and  even  sixteen  thousand  livres  per  month.  As 
much  as  22,000  livres  were  expended  per  year  on  grain 


83  Lett.,  iii.,  322,  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28,  1656. 

84  Lett.,  iy.,  436,  No.  1913,  Aug.  9,  1659. 

85  Lett.,  iii..  No.  1517.  Oct.  24,  1657;  Ibid.,  iv„  351,  No.  1846,  May  24,  1659; 
Ibid.,  401-2,  No.  1886,  July  12.  1659.  For  further  instances  of  case  investi¬ 
gation,  see  pp.  121-2. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


301 


alone,  “in  order  to  keep”  the  inhabitants  “busy  during  the 
summer  and  to  nourish  them  during  the  winter.”  But  after 
three  or  four  years  the  expenses  fell  to  about  3,000  livres  per 
month  owing  to  the  improved  conditions  which  in  turn,  were 
due  to  the  removal  of  the  armies  and  to  the  assistance 
received  through  St.  Vincent.  In  a  letter  dated  July  28, 
1656,  Vincent  designates  the  difficulty  of  procuring  money 
and  the  cheapness  of  wheat  as  further  reasons  for  the 
diminution  of  alms.S6 

As  during  the  relief  of  Lorraine,  so  also  here  St.  Vincent 
recalled  most  of  the  missionaries  as  soon  as  the  improving 
conditions,  after  three  or  four  years,  permitted  it.  He 
allowed  only  a  few  to  remain  until  the  general  peace  of  1659. 
These  continued  to  assist  the  poor  and  the  pastors,  and  to 
help  in  repairing  churches  where  necessary. 

C.  The  Relief  of  Poland 

While  France  was  being  ravaged  by  pest,  famine,  and 
war,  Poland  was  suffering  like  calamities.  In  1652  the  pest 
was  raging  in  the  principal  cities.  St.  Vincent,  in  a  letter  to 
one  of  his  confreres,  dated  Dec.  10,  1652,  has  preserved  for 
us  a  description  of  the  situation  at  Warsaw,  which  we  shall 
here  cite  as  being  fairly  typical  of  the  general  desolation. 
“All  the  inhabitants  who  have  been  able  to  flee,”  he  writes, 
“have  abandoned  the  city,  in  which,  as  in  the  other  places 
afflicted  with  this  malady,  there  is  scarcely  any  order,  but  on 
the  contrary  a  strange  disorder ;  for  no  one  buries  the  dead 
there.  One  leaves  them  in  the  streets,  where  the  dogs  devour 
them.  As  soon  as  anyone  is  struck  with  this  malady  in  a 
house,  the  others  put  him  on  the  street,  where  he  must 
necessarily  die,  for  no  one  brings  him  anything  to  eat.  The 
poor  artisans,  the  poor  servants  of  both  sexes,  the  poor 
widows  and  orphans  are  entirely  abandoned,  for  they  find 
neither  work  nor  persons  from  whom  they  can  ask  bread 
because  all  the  rich  have  fled.”S7 


86  Cf.  Lett.,  iii.,  322-3.  No.  1265,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  July  28. 
1656;  Lett  ct  Confer.  (Sup ft.),  203-4,  209.  Confer,  to  Lad.  of  Char,  at  Gen. 
Assemb.  of  July  it,  1657. 

87  Ibid.,  97-8,  No.  3070,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan.  Cited  also  in 
Abelly,  ii.,  246. 


302 


THE  CHARITIES 


Before  the  epidemic  had  spent  itself,  war  aggravated 
the  miseries  with  its  ravaging  forces.  The  Cossacks  were 
still  smarting  under  the  defeat  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
Poles  at  Beresteczko  in  1651.  In  1654  they  allied  their  forces 
with  those  of  the  Muscovites  and  invaded  Poland,  thus 
inaugurating  what  is  known  in  Russian  history  as  the  Thir¬ 
teen  Years’  War,  which  in  cruelty  and  brutality  surpassed 
even  the  Thirty  Years’  War.  Moreover,  in  the  summer  of 
the  following  year  Charles-Gustave  (Charles  X)  of  Sweden, 
on  the  flimsiest  of  pretexts,  forced  war  on  Poland,  and  before 
the  end  of  the  year  occupied  the  capital  and  a  large  part  of 
the  territory.  The  king,  betrayed  and  abandoned  by  his  own 
subjects,  fled  to  Silesia  (1655) .  Profiting  by  this  cataclysm, 
the  Muscovites,  unopposed,  quickly  took  possession  of  nearly 
everything  that  had  not  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Swedes. 
The  formation  of  a  general  league  against  Sweden,  brought 
about  by  the  apprehensive  court  of  Vienna,  and  an  almost 
simultaneous  outburst  of  religious  and  patriotic  enthusiasm 
on  the  part  of  the  Polish  people,  enabled  the  king  to  return 
from  exile  and  turned  the  tide  of  victory.  The  Swedes  were 
driven  back  and  on  the  sudden  death  of  Charles-Gustave 
(Febr.  13,  1660)  made  peace  with  Poland.  The  war  against 
Muscovy  was  then  prosecuted  with  renewed  energy  and 
continued  beyond  the  period  of  this  study. 

The  queen  of  Poland  at  this  time  was  Marie-Louise  of 
Gonzaga,  scion  of  the  Nevers-Bethel  branch  of  the  illustrious 
Gonzaga  family  of  Mantua.  Prior  to  her  marriage  with 
Wladislaus  IV,  king  of  Poland  (1632-1648) , 88  she  had  been 
among  the  most  zealous  of  St.  Vincent’s  Ladies  of  Charity 
at  Paris.  Her  coronation  as  queen  of  Poland  did  not  dimin¬ 
ish  her  zeal  and  devotion  for  the  poor  and  suffering,  but  only 
opened  a  wider  field  in  which  to  give  it  expression.89 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  queen, 
acquainted  as  she  was  with  St.  Vincent,  his  charitable  zeal, 
and  his  methods,  turned  to  him  for  assistance  when  she 


ss  After  his  death  she  obtained  the  requisite  ecclesiastical  dispensation 
and  married  his  brother,  John  II.  or  John  Casimir  (1648-1668). 

so  It  must  be  remarked  at  the  same  time  that  she  became  infected  with 
Jansenism  during  her  sojourn  at  Paris  and  retained  its  impressions  through 
her  confessor,  whom  she  had  brought  with  her  from  France.  Abelly,  ii., 
243,  n.  2. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


303 


conceived  the  design  of  bringing  relief  to  her  unfortunate 
people. 

At  her  request  Vincent  sent  the  first  missionaries  into 
Poland  in  1651.  They  were  five  in  number,  two  priests,  a 
subdeacon,  a  cleric,  and  a  lay  brother,  though  Vincent  had 
intended  to  send  eight  or  nine.90  Others  followed  from  time 
to  time  as  their  work  developed  and  as  St.  Vincent  was  in  a 
position  to  furnish  them. 

The  queen  wished  that  the  missionaries  engage  not  only 
in  the  instruction  of  the  poor  people  of  the  country  districts, 
but  particularly  in  the  organization  and  supervision  of  the 
diocesan  seminaries  as  also  in  the  spiritual  reform  of  the 
clergy.  They  were  very  well  received,  both  by  the  people  and 
by  the  civil  authorities.  The  king  and  queen  showed  them 
every  consideration  and  helped  them  wherever  they  could. 
They  forwarded  money  to  cover  their  traveling  expenses 
from  France  and  established  foundations  for  them  in  Poland, 
which  they  endowed  'with  competent  revenues.  Many  of  the 
Polish  lords,  too,  were  desirous  of  seeing  the  missionaries 
permanently  established  upon  their  estates,  and  Fence  they 
also  made  foundations.91 

During  the  plague  and  the  wars  the  missionaries  were 
glad  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  relief  of  the  suffering.  St. 
Vincent  makes  special  mention  of  two  who  were  voluntarily 
laboring  among  those  afflicted  with  the  plague  while  two 
others  were  engaged  in  distributing  the  alms  of  the  queen.92 
We  know,  further,  that  M.  Lambert,  who  had  been  caring 
for  the  pest-stricken  at  Cracow,  went  on  his  own  volition 
to  Warsaw  when  the  pest  broke  out  there  in  1652.  Seeing 
the  fear  which  the  Poles  had  for  the  pest,  as  the  queen  states 
in  a  letter  to  St.  Vincent,  M.  Lambert  hoped  in  going  to 
Warsaw,  to  put  better  order  into  the  relief  work  than  he 
who  had  been  active  there  was  able  to  maintain.93 


90  Lett.,  ii.,  351.  No.  81 1.  To  The  Queen  of  Poland,  Sept.  6,  1651. 

91  Cf.  Lett.,  ii..  pp.  410,  472-3.  491,  351,  538,  586-7;  Lett.,  iii.,  56,  6r,  67,  74. 
142.  172.  692;  Lett.,  iv.,  59. 

92  Lett.,  ii..  492,  No.  914,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa,  Oct.  T5,  1652. 

93  Abelly,  ii.,  245.  To  what  extent  the  Queen  was  ready  to  show  solicitude 
for  the  missionaries,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  she  gave  orders  that  M. 
Lambert  be  lodged  in  the  castle  and  in  the  room  of  the  king  during  his  stay 
at  Warsaw.  Ibid. 


304 


THE  CHARITIES 


He  set  to  work  to  have  the  dead  buried  and  the  abandoned 
sick,  both  the  pest-stricken  and  those  afflicted  with  other 
maladies,  brought  to  places  where  they  could  be  provided 
for  both  corporally  and  spiritually.  Finally,  he  had  three 
or  four  different  houses  prepared  as  hospices,  where  he 
lodged  all  the  other  poor  who  had  been  reduced  to  extreme 
need.  The  men  were  lodged  apart  from  the  women  and 
children.  They  were  assisted  with  the  alms  of  the  queen.04 

The  work  in  Poland  met  with  obstacles  and  reverses. 
M.  Guillot,  of  whom  St.  Vincent  makes  special  mention  in  a 
letter  dated  Oct.  15,  1652,  as  being  engaged  in  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  the  queen’s  alms,  wished  to  abandon  the  work  in 
1654.  St.  Vincent,  “prostrated  in  spirit  at  his  feet  and  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,”  besought  him  to  remain  at  his  post,  but  in 
vain.  He  returned  to  Paris  in  May,  1654,  while  another 
worker,  a  Polish  lay  brother,  quit  the  Congregation  at  about 
the  same  date.  The  former,  however,  repented  of  his  step, 
and  volunteering  his  services  anew,  was  sent  back  to  Poland 
by  St.  Vincent  the  following  month.95 

When  the  scourge  of  war  was  added  to  the  horrors  of  the 
pest  and  Warsaw  threatened  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Swedes,  the  missionaries  and  their  work  received  a  further 
and  more  severe  setback.  The  queen  resolved  to  remove  a 
part  of  them  from  the  scene  of  danger  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  Vincent  had  recommended  them  to  the  special  protec¬ 
tion  of  the  French  ambassador  at  the  Swedish  Court  and 
despite  Vincent’s  assurance  that  the  Swedes,  in  accordance 
with  their  course  of  action  in  a  former  war  with  Germany, 
would  not  molest  the  priests.96  One  of  the  missionaries 
accompanied  the  queen  to  Silesia  and  four  returned  to 
France.  Only  two  remained  behind.  These  were  left  in 
comparative  quiet  by  the  Swedes  for  almost  a  year.  For  the 
invaders,  encountering  little  or  no  opposition  in  the  capture 
of  the  city,  did  not  maltreat  the  inhabitants  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  demanding  that  the  pastors  and  the  religious  com- 

94  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Suppl.),  98,  No.  3070,  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan. 
Dec.  10,  1652.  Cited  also  in  Abelly,  ii.,  246. 

95  Lett.,  ii.,  492,  No.  914,  To  M.  Blatiron,  Supr.  at  Genoa:  Lett.,  iii.,  19, 
No.  1022,  To  M.  Guillot,  Feb.  20,  1654;  Ibid.,  27,  No.  1025,  Feb.  27,  1654; 
Ibid..  49,  No.  1041  ;  Ibid.,  61,  No.  1052. 

96  Lett.,  iii.,  185,  No.  1146,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Sept.  3,  1655. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


305 


munities  ransom  their  churches  at  a  considerable  price. 
The  missionaries  were  taxed  1400  livres.  But  the  following 
year  the  Swedes  recaptured  the  city  after  being  driven 
thence  by  the  Poles,  and  pillaged  it,  including  in  their  devas¬ 
tation  the  church  and  presbytery  of  the  missionaries,  and 
leaving  to  the  latter,  as  St.  Vincent  expressed  it,  “nothing  but 
the  liberty  to  withdraw.”  This,  however,  was  not  necessary, 
for  the  enemy  soon  departed  to  attack  the  Muscovites.07  In 
the  face  of  these  vicissitudes  and  dangers,  the  two  mission¬ 
aries  who  remained  at  Warsaw  persevered  in  the  faithful 
discharge  of  their  duties  for  several  years.  They  consoled 
and  served  the  poor,  “administering  the  sacraments  to  them 
both  in  health  and  illness,  and  rendering  them  every  kind  of 
assistance.”98 

Conditions  began  gradually  to  improve  in  1657.  The 
queen  requested  the  return  of  the  four  missionaries  who  had 
gone  to  France  at  the  approach  of  the  Swedish  forces.  The 
king  and  queen  returned  to  Warsaw  in  the  autumn  of 
that  year,  and  together  with  them  M.  Ozenne,  who  had 
been  with  them  in  exile  in  Silesia,  and  who  had  been  supe¬ 
rior  of  the  mission  band  in  Poland  since  the  beginning  of 
1654." 

In  the  meantime,  also  the  Daughters  of  Charity  were 
active  among  the  suffering  poor  of  Poland.  They,  too,  had 
been  sent  by  St.  Vincent  at  the  solicitation  of  the  queen. 
The  first  ones,  three  in  number,  arrived  in  September, 
1652,  at  a  time  when  the  plague  was  already  raging  in 
Warsaw  and  Cracow.  Others  followed  in  the  course  of 
time. 

They  were  no  less  kindly  received  than  the  missionaries 
had  been.  The  queen  wished  to  retain  with  her  in  the  palace 
one  of  the  first  three  to  arrive,  but  the  Sister  answered : 
“Pardon  me,  madame,  but  we  have  given  ourselves  to  God 
for  the  service  of  the  poor”  and  asked  to  be  sent  with  her 


97  Lett.,  iii 210-11,  No.  1174.  To  M.  Coglee,  Supr.  at  Sedan,  Nov.  29,  1655  ; 
Ibid.,  366.  No.  T304,  To  M.  Martin,  Supr.  at  Turin,  Oct.  20,  1656;  A  z  is  ct 
Confer,  aux  Menibres  dc  la  Congreg.,  197,  No.  64,  Oct.  t8.  1656;  Ibid.,  206. 
No.  67.  Nov.  11,  1656. 

98  Abellv,  ii.,  248-9. 

99  Lett.,  iii.,  603,  No.  1495,  To  M.  Jolly,  Supr.  at  Rome,  Oct.  5,  1657;  Ibid., 
No.  1515,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Oct.  22,  1657. 


306 


THE  CHARITIES 


companions  to  Cracow  to  serve  the  pest-stricken.  The  queen 
persisted  in  her  design,  however,  and  five  years  later 
St.  Vincent,  after  holding  a  special  meeting  with  the 
Daughters  of  Charity  at  Paris  on  the  subject,  granted  this 
same  Sister  permission  to  accompany  the  queen  on  her 
travels.100 

The  Daughters  of  Charity  not  only  cared  for  the  sick  in 
the  cities  and  towns  but  were  also  engaged  with  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  the  distribution  of  the  queen’s  alms  in  the 
devastated  districts.  They  were  also  employed  in  nursing 
the  wounded  soldiers.  Concerning  these  Sisters  St.  Vincent 
is  quoted  as  saying  in  a  conference  to  the  Daughters  of  Char¬ 
ity  at  Paris  :  “Girls  to  have  the  courage  to  go  to  the  armies? 
What,  Daughters  of  Charity  of  the  house  of  Paris  opposite 
Saint-Lazare  to  go  to  visit  the  poor  wounded  not  only  in 
France  but  also  as  far  away  as  Poland?  Ah!  my  Daugh¬ 
ters,  is  there  anything  equal  to  this?  Have  you  ever  heard 
it  said  that  a  like  thing  took  place,  that  girls  have  been  with 
the  armies  for  a  similar  purpose?  As  for  me,  I  have  never 
seen  this  and  I  do  not  know  of  any  congregation  which  has 
done  the  works  which  God  does  through  yours.”  St.  Vincent 
here  expresses  his  conviction,  and  such,  too,  is  the  fact,  that 
his  Daughters  of  Charity  were  the  first  organization  of 
religious  women  to  enter  upon  the  field  of  battle  as  war 
nurses.101 

Vincent,  continuing  his  discourse,  traces  out  (with  feel¬ 
ing)  the  corporal  and  spiritual  purpose  of  such  an  occupa¬ 
tion  and  lauds  the  nobility  of  the  work.  He  exclaims  :  “Ah, 
Savior !  Is  it  not  admirable  to  see  poor  girls  enter  upon  a 
siege?102  And  for  what  purpose?  To  renew  what  the 
malicious  there  destroy.  Yes,  men  go  thither  to  destroy,  to 
kill,  and  they,  the  Sisters,  to  give  back  life  through  their 
attentions;  the  men  sent  other  men  to  hell  (for  among  the 
carnage  there  are  necessarily  some  poor  souls  in  mortal  sin) , 


100  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  i.,  516,  No.  43,  Feb.  2,  1653  ;  Lett,  ct 
Confer.  (Suppl.),  358-62,  No.  14,  Mar.  23,  1657;  Lett.,  iii.,  142,  No.  1113, 
To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Mar.  12,  1655. 

101  Lett.,  ii.,  429-30,  No.  871,  To  M.  Vageot,  Supr.  at  Saintes,  May  22, 
1652;  Confer,  aux  Filles  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  290-1,  No.  77,  Sept.  8,  1657. 

102  He  refers  to  the  siege  of  Warsaw  where  the  Sisters  in  question  were 
then  engaged. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


307 


and  behold  poor  girls  do  what  they  can  to  have  them  go  to 
heaven !  .  .  .  Has  it  ever  entered  the  human  mind  that 
young  ladies  should  go  among  the  armies  to  repair  the  evil 
that  men  do  there?  Is  this  not  quite  extraordinary?” 

The  king  and  queen  were  so  well  pleased  with  the  con¬ 
duct,  zeal,  and  ability  of  the  Daughters  of  Charity  that  they 
once  spent  an  entire  day  with  them  to  show  their  satisfac¬ 
tion  and  appreciation.103 

A  third  class  of  workers  introduced  at  this  time  into 
Poland  at  the  request  of  the  queen  and  through  the  efforts 
of  Vincent  de  Paul  were  the  religious  of  Sainte-Marie.  They 
were  to  engage  in  rescuing  fallen  girls  as  they  were  doing 
at  Paris  [see  pp.  249-50].  Their  entrance  into  this  new  field 
of  labor,  however,  did  not  take  place  without  opposition.  To 
utilize  St.  Vincent’s  mode  of  expressing  it,  the  wicked  spirit, 
foreseeing  the  good  which  they  would  accomplish,  incited 
their  parents  to  procure  a  juridical  prohibition,  confirmed 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  against  the  superioress  of 
Sainte-Marie  sending  their  daughters  so  far  away.  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  suggested  to  the  queen  of  Poland  that  this  opposition 
could  be  easily  overcome  by  her  writing  personally  to  the 
Archbishop  and  by  having  the  queen  of  France  use  her  influ¬ 
ence  with  him.104 

It  developed,  however,  that  the  opposition  was  more 
obstinate  than  at  first  thought.  After  nine  months,  the 
opposition  of  the  relatives  was  still  a  matter  of  concern,  and 
the  Archbishop  remained  persistent  in  his  refusal.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  a  letter  of  St.  Vincent,  written  at  this  time,  the 
Archbishop’s  refusal  was  rooted  in  wounded  pride.  He  was 
peeved  because  the  queen  of  Poland  and  the  religious  of 
Sainte-Marie  had  opened  mutual  negotiations  without  first 
consulting  him  though  in  other  cases  the  religious  had 
founded  new  'establishments  under  similar  circumstances 
without  incurring  his  displeasure.  Again  St.  Vincent  sug¬ 
gested  that  the  queen  write  a  personal  letter  to  the  prelate, 
though  he  was  much  less  sanguine  than  on  the  former  occa¬ 
sion  in  his  hopes  regarding  the  result.  He  may  possibly  be 

103  Confer,  aux  Fillcs  de  la  Char.,  ii.,  652,  No.  108.  July  24.  1660;  Lett,  et 
Confer.  (Suppl.),  191,  No.  3,  July  24,  1660. 

104  Lett.,  ii.,  352,  No.  811,  To  The  Queen  of  Poland,  Sept.  6,  1 65 t  . 


308 


THE  CHARITIES 


induced  to  relent,  he  says  in  substance,  if  the  queen  “writes 
him  in  French  a  cordial  letter  which  pleases  him.”105 

At  last,  after  another  year’s  waiting,  the  religious  of 
Sainte-Marie  were  ready  to  depart  for  Poland.  They  set 
out  in  August,  but  their  ship  was  captured  by  English 
pirates  and  detained  for  a  long  time  at  Dover.  After  many 
difficulties  they  arrived  at  Warsaw  in  the  summer  of  1654. 100 

A  fourth  type  of  relief  agencies  established  in  Poland 
at  this  time  were  confraternities  of  charity  after  the  model 
of  those  at  Paris  and  throughout  France.  We  know,  for 
example,-  that  the  pious  ladies  of  Lithuania  wished  to 
organize  such  a  confraternity.  St.  Vincent  sent  them  a  con¬ 
stitution,  while  the  queen  of  Poland  wished  to  send  a  priest 
of  the  Mission  to  organize  the  conference,  and  a  Daughter  of 
Charity  to  train  the  ladies  in  the  care  of  the  poor  sick.  St. 
Vincent  heartily  approves  of  the  plan  but  prudently  sug¬ 
gests  that  “it  will  be  necessary  that  this  priest  has  already 
made  similar  establishments  .  .  . ;  for  if  a  novice  is  sent 
thither  who  has  no  experience  along  these  lines,  I  doubt  very 
much  if  he  will  succeed  with  it.”107 

A  glance  at  the  relief  work  of  Poland  reveals  a  funda¬ 
mental  difference  in  the  directing  personnel  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  devastated  provinces  of  France.  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  merely  furnished  the  workers  and  contented  himself 
with  humble  suggestions  concerning  their  placement,  type  of 
work,  and  the  like.  The  queen  was  in  immediate  and  full 
charge,  and  supplied  the  necessary  means  from  her  own 
revenues108  or  procured  them  by  her  personal  effort.  She 
was  always  in  close  touch  with  the  work  and  took  a  personal 
and  active  interest  irnit.  With  her  own  hands  she  “spun  and 
wound  into  skeins  the  thread  that  was  necessary  to  sew  the 
linen  of  the  poor.”  This  humble  charity  so  struck  St.  Vin- 


103  Ibid.,  439,  No.  879,  To  M.  Lambert,*  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  June  21,  1652. 
We  find  here  an  exemplification  of  what  we  styled  St.  Vincent’s  diplomacy 
in  the  fore  part  of  this  work  [p.  40]. 

106  Ibid.,  539-40,  No.  956,  To  M.  Desdames,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  June  6, 
1653;  Ibid.,  579,  n.  1;  Ibid.,  iii.,  66,  No.  1057,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Supr.  at 
Warsaw,  July  31,  1654. 

107  Lett.,  iii.,  142,  No.  1 1 13,  To  M.  Ozenne,  Mar.  12,  1655. 

108  Before  the  pest  had  broken  out  on  a  large  scale  in  Poland,  she  even 
contributed  12,000  livres  to  the  relief  fund  at  Paris.  Lett.,  ii.,  458-9,  No.  895, 
To  Mile,  de  Lamoignon,  Aug.  4,  1652. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


309 


cent  with  admiration  that  in  a  letter  to  the  queen  he  styled 
it  “without  precedent  in  the  Church  of  God.”  “We  know, 
indeed,”  he  continued  in  the  same  letter,  “that  history  makes 
known  to  us  a  princess  who  spun  the  thread  which  should 
serve  to  clothe  her  own  person.  But  I  do  not  recall  anyone 
who  has  carried  piety  to  the  point  which  your  Majesty  has 
done  in  using  the  work  of  her  hands  in  the  service  of  the 
poor.”109 

D.  The  Relief  of  Gennevilliers 

Additional  sufferings  fell  upon  the  inhabitants  of  France 
in  1652  in  consequence  of  an  almost  general  inundation  of 
the  Seine.  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  in  addition  to  his  many  other 
charities,  charged  himself  in  this  crisis  with  the  relief  of 
Gennevilliers,  a  village  about  two  leagues  distant  from  Paris, 
'  whose  “poor  inhabitants  were  besieged  with  water  and  hun¬ 
ger  and  reduced  to  the  last  extremity.”110 

St.  Vincent  had  large  quantities  of  bread  baked  at  Saint- 
Lazare  at  the  expense  of  the  community  and  transported  to 
the  flooded  village  in  a  huge  cart  by  members  of  his  Congre¬ 
gation.  They  were  halted  by  the  waters  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  scene  of  misery,  but  they  signaled  to  the 
sufferers,  half-submerged  in  their  homes,  and  a  fisherman 
came  in  a  boat  to  meet  them.  Laden  with  provisions,  the 
fisherman  returned.  He  arrived  at  the  village  and  handed 
bread  to  the  most  daring  of  the  inhabitants  who  hung  over 
a  wall.  These,  who  were  paid  in  money  for  their  courage, 
passed  it  to  the  more  timid.  The  boat  also  entered  the 
village  and  made  distributions  through  the  windows. 
This  continued  for  three  or  four  days  in  the  midst  of  great 
perils. 

Before  departing,  the  missionaries  left  the  remaining 
alms  with  the  parish  priest  that  he  might  make  a  judicious 
distribution  of  them,  since  he  was  acquainted  with  the  par¬ 
ticular  needs  of  each  of  his  parishioners.  After  the  calamity 
had  passed,  the  inhabitants  deputed  a  delegation  of  their 
most  prominent  citizens  to  express  their  gratitude  and 
appreciation  to  St.  Vincent. 


109  Lett.,  iv.,  44 6,  No.  1921,  Aug.  22,  1659. 
110Abelly,  iii.,  174-5. 


310 


THE  CHARITIES 


E.  The  Relief  of  Paris  and  Environs  During  the  Fronde 

While  St.  Vincent  was  extending  his  relief  to  the  prov¬ 
inces,  the  victims  of  the  Fronde  offered  him  ample  opportu¬ 
nity  to  exercise  his  charity  in  and  around  the  capital.  The 
Fronde,111  regarded  in  its  wider  aspects,  was  a  reaction  on 
the  part  of  the  nobility,  the  people  and  the  Parliament 
against  the  centralized  absolutism  effected  especially  by 
Richelieu  and  personified  at  this  time  in  his  successor,  the 
Prime  Minister  Cardinal  Mazarin. 

The  first,  or  “parliamentary, ”  Fronde  was  occasioned 
directly  by  a  tax  levied  in  May,  1648,  on  the  judicial  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  This  tax  was  met  not  only 
with  a  refusal  to  pay,  but  at  the  same  time  with  the  repu¬ 
diation  of  earlier  financial  edicts  and  even  with  a  demand 
for  the  acceptance  of  a  scheme  of  constitutional  reforms 
which  a  committee  of  the  Parliament  had  drafted.  In 
August,  1648,  Mazarin  suddenly  arrested  the  leaders  of  the 
insurgents,  whereupon  Paris  rose  in  rebellion  and  barri¬ 
caded  the  streets.  The  court  having  no  army  at  its  imme¬ 
diate  disposal  to  enforce  its  authority,  was  compelled  to 
relent.  It  released  the  prisoners,  promised  to  effect  the  de¬ 
manded  reforms,  and  fled  from  Paris  to  Saint-Germain- 
en-Laye.  The  Peace  of  Rueil  was  signed  on  March  11,  1649, 
after  little  blood  had  been  shed. 

The  Peace  of  Rueil  lasted  until  the  end  of  1649.  The 
princes,  readmitted  at  court,  renewed  their  intrigues  against 
Mazarin  who,  on  January  14,  1650,  suddenly  had  three  of 
their  leaders  arrested.  The  war  which  followed  is  known 
as  the  second,  or  “Princes’,”  Fronde. 

Mazarin,  against  whom  the  rebellion  was  particularly 
directed,  was  obliged  to  flee  for  safety  to  the  electorate  of 
Cologne  in  February,  1651.  From  here  he  continued  to 
influence  the  queen  and  to  govern  the  kingdom  by  means  of 
secret  letters.  His  absence,  however,  left  the  field  free  for 
mutual  jealousies,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year 
anarchy  held  sway  in  France.  The  insurrection  was  grad- 

111  The  word  means  a  sling  and  was  applied  to  these  civil  strifes  either 
from  the  circumstance  that  the  windows  of  Mazarin’s  adherents  were 
pelted  with  stones  by  the  Paris  mob,  or  because  of  their  farcical  resemblance 
to  a  boy’s  game.' 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


311 


ually  abating  towards  the  end  of  the  year  when  the  return 
of  Mazarin  reenkindled  the  feuds.  After  another  six  months 
of  warfare  with  fluctuating  success,  the  people  became 
weary  of  civil  strife.  Mazarin,  feeling  that  public  sen¬ 
timent  was  solidly  against  him,  facilitated  peace  by  exil¬ 
ing  himself  for  the  second  time  to  Bouillon.  Thereupon  the 
bourgeois  of  Paris,  quarreling  with  the  princes,  permitted 
the  king  to  enter  the  city  on  October  21,  1652.  Mazarin  re¬ 
turned  unopposed  in  February,  1653.  The  Fronde,  as  a  civil 
war,  was  now  over.  But  the  war  with  Spain,  which  had  been 
helping  the  rebels  throughout  the  second  Fronde,  continued 
until  the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees,  in  November,  1659. 

After  the  departure  of  the  court  to  Saint-Germain  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  Fronde,  all  public  order  was  subverted 
in  the  city.  The  exercise  of  justice  ceased.  Each  thought 
only  of  saving  his  own  life.  Work  ceased  among  the  arti¬ 
sans,  and  traffic  and  commerce  among  the  merchants;  the 
gates  of  the  city  were  closed  to  man  and  merchandise  alike. 
The  disorders  of  the  besieged  and  besieging  soldiers  of  the 
capital  inspired  horror  and  wrought  ruin. 

St.  Vincent,  foreseeing  the  indescribable  misery  and  suf¬ 
fering  to  which  these  events  must  inevitably  lead  within  a 
short  time  if  permitted  to  run  their  course,  resolved  to  strike 
at  the  root  of  the  evil.  He  determined  to  have  an  interview 
with  the  prime  minister  and  the  queen,  whose  plan  of  starv¬ 
ing  the  rebellious  city  into  subjection  he  deemed  too  severe. 
He  accordingly  braved  the  adverse  public  opinion  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  danger  of  disgrace  at  the  royal  court  or  exile 
on  the  other,  and  made  his  way  to  Saint-Germain.  His  mis¬ 
sion  proved  futile.  But  he  had  the  satisfaction  before  God 
of  having  done  his  duty  in  trying  to  avert  the  evil.112 

•  112  See  pp.  62-3.  This  incident  alone  is  sufficient  refutation  of  the  calum¬ 
nious  insinuation  that  St.  Vincent,  because  of  his  influence  with  the  queen 
and  the  first  ministers  of  the  State,  was  responsible  for  the  public  miseries, 
the  state  burdens,  and  the  taxes  from  which  the  people  suffered.  He  was, 
in  fact,  publicly  accused  of  this  one  day  as  he  was  returning  from  the  city 
to  Saint-Lazare.  Vincent,  who,  in  his  humility,  was  wont  to  attribute  the 
public  calamities  to  his  sins,  got  down  from  his  horse,  knelt  in  the  street, 
avowed  his  guilt,  and  begged  pardon  of  God  and  his  accuser.  The  man,  in 
consequence,  was  so  confused  at  his  temerity  that  he  came  to  Saint-Lazare 
the  following  day  to  make  amends.  St.  Vincent  received  him  as  a  friend, 
and  persuaded  him  to  remain  in  the  house  six  or  seven  days,  during  which 
time  he  made  a  spiritual  retreat  and  a  general  confession.  Abelly,  iii.,  235-6. 


312 


THE  CHARITIES 


St.  Vincent  had  gone  to  Saint-Germain  without  commu¬ 
nicating  to  anyone  the  purpose  of  his  mission  in  order  to 
be  better  able  to  assure  the  queen  that  he  came  to  plead  for 
peace  uninfluenced  by  partisanship.  This  mode  of  action, 
highly  commendable  in  itself,  was  misinterpreted  by  the  sus¬ 
picious  Parisians.  His  interview  with  the  queen  branded 
him  in  their  eyes  as  a  royalist  and  a  declared  enemy  of  the 
Fronde.  Under  these  circumstances  he  deemed  it  impru¬ 
dent  and  unsafe  to  return  to  the  city.  He  went,  therefore, 
to  Villepreux,  on  the  estates  of  the  Gondi  family,  and  thence 
to  a  little  farm  about  two  leagues  from  Etampes,  which  had 
been  given  in  charity  to  the  house  of  Saint-Lazare.  Here 
he  remained  for  the  space  of  a  month,  suffering  from  the 
extreme  cold  of  the  winter.  While  here  he  learned  that  the 
other  farms  of  Saint-Lazare  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris 
whence  his  community  derived  their  principal  means  of 
assistance,  had  been  pillaged  by  the  soldiers.  They  had 
carried  away  the  furniture,  driven  off  the  herds,  and  taken 
possession  of  eighteen  or  twenty  hogsheads  of  wheat. 

Also  while  here,  he  was  informed  of  the  retaliation  re¬ 
sorted  to  by  those  whom  he,  as  a  member  of  the  Council  of 
Conscience,  had  justly  excluded  from  ecclesiastical  dignities, 
and  by  those  who  misunderstood  his  purpose  in  visiting  the 
royal  court  at  Saint-Germain.  A  counsellor,  pretending  to 
be  charged  with  the  authority  of  the  Parliament,  took  pos¬ 
session  of  the  keys  of  the  house  and  the  granaries  of  Saint- 
Lazare  under  the  pretext  of  taking  an  inventory.  He  seized 
all  the  grain  and  flour  and  had  it  carted  off.  In  the  mean¬ 
time,  six  to  eight  hundred  soldiers  were  lodged  in  the  house. 
They  “made  a  frightful  waste  and  havoc/’  and  finding  noth¬ 
ing  whereon  to  vent  their  fury  and  malice,  they  set  fire  to 
the  wood  piles  and  reduced  them  to  ashes.  The  Parliament, 
being  informed  of  this,  expressed  regret  that  such  deeds 
were  perpetrated  in  its  name,  the  soldiers  were  withdrawn 
but  Saint-Lazare  received  no  indemnification.113 

St.  Vincent  did  not  return  to  Paris  until  June,  1649, 114 


113  Abelly,  i.,  267-70;  Idem,  iii.,  188;  Collet,  183-4. 

114  Abelly  [vol.  i.,  274]  says  July,  1649,  but  letters  were  written  by  St. 
Vincent  from  Paris  as  early  as  June  18  and  June  19,  1649.  Cf.  Lett.,  ii.,  163, 
No.  649  and  No.  650. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


313 


after  the  absence  of  five  months,  and  three  months  after  the 
signing  of  the  Peace  of  Rueil.  He  had  spent  the  interval  in 
visiting  the  establishments  of  the  missionaries  and  Daugh¬ 
ters  of  Charity  at  le  Mans,  Angers,  Saint-Meen,  etc.  He  had 
the  intention  of  continuing  these  visitations  for  some  time, 
but  returned  to  Paris  in  deference  to  the  express  order  of 
the  queen. 

But,  though  absent  from  Paris,  and  notwithstanding  the 
losses  suffered  by  Saint-Lazare  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiers, 
he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  capital’s  suffering  poor.  Saint- 
Lazare  was  now  so  poor  that  it  was  unable  even  to  support 
its  customary  inmates.  Many  of  these  had  to  be  sent  to  le 
Mans,  Richelieu,  and  other  places.  Still  St.  Vincent  wrote 
several  letters  to  M.  Lambert,  the  acting  superior,  in  which 
he  urged  him  always  to  continue  his  alms  to  the  poor.  He 
instructed  him  to  borrow  sixteen  or  twenty  thousand  livres 
for  the  purpose.  Bread  and  soup  were  daily  distributed  to 
two  or  three  thousand  poor  people.  Two  or  three  large  cal¬ 
drons  of  soup  and  three  or  four  measures  of  wheat  were 
used  every  day,  in  spite  of  its  extreme  scarcity  and  exor¬ 
bitant  cost.  A  contemporary  ecclesiastic  testifies  that  the 
distributions  were  made  “with  the  same  abundance  and  lib¬ 
erality  as  though  the  wheat  had  cost  the  house  nothing.”  The 
brother  who  had  charge  of  the  grain  declared  that  ten  hogs¬ 
heads  of  wheat  had  been  used  to  feed  the  poor  during  the 
three  months’  duration  of  the  first  Fronde.  At  the  end  of 
this  time,  also  Saint-Lazare  was  on  the  point  of  suffering 
great  need,  but  with  the  temporary  return  of  peace,  the 
necessaries  of  life  could  again  be  purchased  in  the  city.115 

St.  Vincent  wished,  too,  that  the  Ladies  of  Charity  lend 
their  assistance  to  the  work.  He  tells  them  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  them  that  their  many  private  charities  might  ex¬ 
cuse  them  in  the  sight  of  men  from  taking  an  active  part 
in  alleviating  the  public  misery,  but  not  before  God.11G 

Before  the  inhabitants  of  Paris  and  vicinity  had  time 
adequately  to  recover  from  the  miseries  of  the  first  Fronde, 
they  were  hurled  into  new  and  greater  calamities  by  the  out- 

115  Lett.,  ii.,  156-7,  No.  644,  To  M.  Portail,  Confrere  at  Marseilles,  Mar. 
4,  1649. 

116  Ibid.,  152-4. 


314 


THE  CHARITIES 


break  of  fresh  hostilities  at  the  beginning  of  1650.  Con¬ 
cerning  the  deplorable  conditions  that  prevailed  within  the 
city  during  this  period,  we  shall  not  go  into  detail.  Suffice 
it  to  quote  St.  Vincent’s  summary  description  of  the  situa¬ 
tion.  “We  are  here  in  disorders  more  than  ever,”  he  writes. 
“Paris  is  swarming  with  poor,  because  the  armies  have 
forced  the  poor  people  of  the  country  districts  to  seek  refuge 
here.”  117 

The  encampment  and  fighting  of  the  armies  in  the  en¬ 
virons  of  Paris  spread  desolation  and  misery  over  the  entire 
territory.  The  general  desolation,  however,  is  fairly  well 
reflected  in  the  miseries  inflicted  upon  Etampes.  This  city 
had  been  subjected  to  the  horrors  of  several  sieges.  Its  in¬ 
habitants,  and  those  of  the  villages  in  the  vicinity,  were 
reduced  in  consequence  to  a  deplorable  state  of  poverty  and 
suffering.  Most  of  them  had  fallen  sick  and  they  were  so 
destitute  of  assistance  that  there  was  none  to  give  them  even 
a  glass  of  water.  To  increase  the  miseries,  the  atmosphere 
was  infected  with  the  rotting  refuse  and  putrefying  carrion 
and  human  corpses  that  were  left  to  decay  on  all  sides.  From 
all  this  such  a  repelling  stench  emanated  that  one  could 
scarcely  draw  near. 

St.  Vincent  undertook  to  relieve  this  distress  in  all  its 
forms,  although  Saint-Lazare  was  in  a  position  to  contrib¬ 
ute  but  very  little.118  Throughout  the  whole  period  he  strove 
to  cure  the  evil  at  its  root.  He  endeavored  to  bring  about 
peace  between  the  rebels  and  the  king  by  acting  as  mediator 
between  the  contending  parties.  The  details  of  his  conduct 
while  acting  this  delicate  role,  however,  have  been  lost  to 
history  owing  to  the  secrecy  essential  for  the  success  of  the 
negotiations.  Still  we  know  that  St.  Vincent  went  back  and 
forth  several  times  exchanging  messages,  and  conditions  and 
terms  of  peace. 

A  letter  written  in  Vincent’s  own  hand  to  Mazarin  while 
the  royal  court  was  at  Saint-Denis,  at  the  beginning  of  July, 

117  Ibid.,  429,  No.  871,  To  M.  Vageot.  Supr.  at  Saintes,  May  22,  1652. 

118  Ibid.,  cf.,  394,  No.  847;  Ibid.,  398,  No.  850;  Ibid.,  472,  No.  903.  That 
Saint-Lazare  was  truly  in  need  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  St.  Vincent, 
who  was  ever  most  conscientious  in  paying  his  debts,  finds  it  impossible  to 
acquit  himself  of  four  thousand  livres  in  1652  and  begs  his  creditor  for  a 
postponement.  Ibid.,  453,  No.  888,  July  30,  1652. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


315 


1652,  was  found  after  his  death.  It  will  serve  to  give  us  an 
idea  of  the  nature  of  his  efforts.  “I  most  humbly  beseech 
your  Eminence/’  he  writes,  “to  pardon  me  for  having  come 
back  [from  Saint-Denis]  last  night  without  having  had  the 
honor  of  receiving  your  commands.  I  was  compelled  to  it 
because  I  was  indisposed.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  [one  of  the 
rebel  princes]  comes  to  inform  me  that  he  will  send  M. 
d’Ornano  [his  secretary]  to  me  to  make  the  answer  upon 
which  he  has  desired  to  come  to  an  agreement  with  the 
Prince  [the  Prince  of  Conde,  leader  of  the  rebellious  forces] . 
I  told  the  queen  yesterday  of  the  conference  I  have  had  the 
honor  of  having  with  the  two  separately.  ...  I  told 
his  Royal  Highness  [evidently  the  Duke  of  Orleans]  that  if 
one  reinstalled  the  king  in  his  authority  and  gave  an  award 
of  justification,  your  Eminence  would  make  the  satisfac¬ 
tion  one  desires  [i.  e.,  retire  from  the  court]  ;  that  one 
could  not  easily  adjust  this  grave  matter  through  deputies; 
and  that  there  needs  must  be  persons  of  mutual  confidence 
who  would  treat  the  things  amicably.  He  showed  by  word 
and  gesture  that  this  was  agreeable  to  him  and  answered  me 
that  he  would  confer  with  his  council.  Tomorrow  morning 
I  hope  to  be  in  a  position  to  bring  his  answer  to  your 
Eminence,  God  helping.”  What  transpired  in  the  interval 
we  do  not  know,  but  six  weeks  later  Mazarin  was  slowly 
making  his  way  toward  the  frontiers.  Mazarin,  however, 
did  not  wish  the  king  to  return  to  Paris  without  him.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  on  September  11,  St.  Vincent  addressed  to  him 
another  letter  in  which  he  prudently  and  considerately,  yet 
pointedly,  refuted  the  reasons  and  pretexts  upon  which  he 
might  base  his  egotistic  ambitions  and  showed  him  it  was 
a  matter  of  indifference  whether  he  returned  before  or  after 
the  royal  party.  He  showed  him  further  that  it  was  the 
height  of  imprudence  to  forbid  the  princes  and  their  depu¬ 
tations  access  to  the  king  and  queen,  and  urged  him  to  use 
his  influence  with  the  latter  in  having  them  return  imme¬ 
diately  “to  take  possession  of  their  city  and  of  the  hearts 
of  Paris.”  110  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  royal  party  entered 
Paris  on  October  21,  1652,  and  Mazarin  the  following  Feb¬ 
ruary. 


119  Ibid.,  4/5-8,  No.  906. 


316 


THE  CHARITIES 


Vincent  gives  us  another  example  of  his  fundamental 
thoroughness  in  relief  work  during  this  period.  When  the 
missionaries  arrived  at  Etampes  to  relieve  the  distress  there, 
one  of  their  first  steps  was  to  hire  men  from  other  places, 
“not  without' a  great  expense,”  to  come  with  carts  and  re¬ 
move  all  the  filth  and  refuse  from  the  city.  Thereupon  they 
buried  the  decomposing  corpses  and  had  the  streets  and 
houses  disinfected  “to  render  them  habitable.”  120 

The  relief  work  of  Paris  and  the  environs  was  under 
the  immediate  supervision  and  direction  of  St.  Vincent.  The 
personnel  of  his  relief  organization  was,  however,  on  the 
whole  the  same  as  during  the  relief  of  the  provinces :  the 
priests  and  brothers  of  the  Congregation,  the  Daughters  of 
Charity,  the  Ladies  of  Charity  and  other  generous  persons. 

The  priests  in  some  places  were  engaged  in  corporal,  as 
well  as  spiritual,  works  of  mercy.  A  number  of  parishes, 
however,  were  shepherdless.  Their  pastors  had  either  died 
or  fled.  The  priests  found  the  double  work  too  exhausting. 
Accordingly,  St.  Vincent  sent  a  number  of  Daughters  of 
Charity  to  alleviate  the  material  distress,  thus  leaving  the 
priests  free  to  devote  their  entire  energies  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  poor.  They  “went  from  one  end  of  the  parishes 
to  the  other  to  visit  and  console  these  poor  afflicted,  to  read 
Holy  Mass  for  them,  to  instruct  them,  to  administer  the  sac¬ 
raments  to  them ;  all  with  the  requisite  permissions  and 
approbations  on  the  part  of  the  superiors.”  121  This  con¬ 
cluding  remark  of  the  biographer  is  significant.  It  is  further 
testimony  of  Vincent’s  wonted  policy  of  entering  upon  any 
relief  only  with  full  permission  of  the  local  authorities  and 
of  withdrawing  at  once  if  such  permission  was  not  forth¬ 
coming. 

The  Daughters  of  Charity,  as  also  the  missionaries,  made 
heroic  sacrifices  in  behalf  of  the  poor.  They  were  deterred 
by  no  difficulty  and  frequently  exposed  themselves  to  the 
danger  of  contracting  the  sicknesses  they  strove  to  cure. 
Several  of  them,  in  consequence,  died  martyrs  to  the  cause, 
while  others  were  sick  for  a  long  time. 


120  Abelly,  i.,  282. 

121  Ibid.,  283. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


317 


The  Ladies  of  Charity,  as  usual,  limited  their  activities 
principally  to  the  giving  and  collecting  of  alms,  and  in  con¬ 
currence  with  St.  Vincent,  to  the  disposing  of  them.  Meet¬ 
ings  were  held  daily,  where  the  needs  of  the  poor  and  means 
and  methods  of  relief  were  discussed.122  Some  of  the  Ladies, 
however,  were  called  upon  by  St.  Vincent  to  devote  them¬ 
selves  personally  to  the  care  of  the  religious  women,  and 
the  women  and  girls  who  sought  refuge  in  Paris. 

Among  the  other  generous  persons,  both  men  and 
women,  who  lent  invaluable  aid  to  the  cause  of  charity 
during  this  period,  M.  du  Plessis,  baron  of  Montbard,  one 
of  the  most  charitable  men  of  the  time,  is  worthy  of  special 
mention  here.  To  him  especially  is  due  the  credit  of  having 
conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  warehouse  for  charitable 
use,  and  of  having  proposed  the  working  plan  in  consequence 
of  which  it  proved  so  successful  and  valuable. 

The  prime  purpose  of  this  warehouse  was  to  serve  as  a 
receiving  station  for  the  alms  in  kind  which  most  of  the 
people  of  the  time  could  donate  in  charity  more  readily  than 
money.  It  proved  a  wonderful  success  and  before  long 
others  were  established  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  to 
which,  as  St.  Vincent  says,  all  Paris  contributed  its  alms.123 
They  became  an  inexhaustible  source  of  supplies  for  a  period 
of  six  or  seven  months.  Clothes,  linens,  furniture,  tools, 
drugs  for  the  composition  of  medicines,  salt,  flour,  peas,  but¬ 
ter,  and  all  the  other  necessaries  of  life,  and  even  chalices, 
ciboria,  missals,  sacred  linens,  and  other  things  necessary 
to  furnish  the  pillaged  churches,  were  here  deposited  daily. 
They  were  then  transferred  to  certain  central  stations  in 
the  country  and  finally  distributed  to  the  poor  with  order 
and  discretion  by  the  workers  in  the  field. 

It  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  St.  Vincent  pro¬ 
vided  for  all  the  poor  of  the  city  during  these  troubles.  Their 
numbers  were  too  great.  Hence  he  directed  his  care  par¬ 
ticularly  to  those  refugees  who  had  found  temporary  shel¬ 
ter  in  the  neighborhood  of  Saint-Lazare  to  the  number  of 
seven  or  eight  hundred.  Moreover,  there  were  other  agen¬ 
cies  in  the  field.  He  himself  says  in  one  of  his  letters  writ- 


122  Lett.,  ii.,  429.  No.  871,  To  M.  Yageot,  Supr.  at  Saintes,  May  22.  1652. 

123  Ibid.,  379,  No.  832,  To  M.  Lambert,  Supr.  at  Warsaw,  Jan.  3,  1652. 


318 


THE  CHARITIES 


ten  at  this  time  that  “the  men  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  are 
doing  wonders  in  this  city”  for  charity,  “and  the  religious 
in  the  country  districts  for  the  distribution  and  the  assist¬ 
ance  of  the  poor  people.”  “We  have  there  only  three  per¬ 
sons,”  he  continues,  “besides  those  whom  we  still  have  at 
Etampes,  because  the  death  of  our  priests  has  prevented  us 
from  giving  more;  and  hence  one  has  called  upon  the  re¬ 
ligious.”  124 

The  most  extensive  demand  made  upon  the  charity  of 
St.  Vincent  and  his  workers  consisted  in  furnishing  the  poor 
with  food  and  other  necessaries  of  life.  A  certificate  of 
June  5,  1652,  written  and  signed  by  St.  Vincent,  will  serve 
to  give  us  a  general  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  work.  It  was 
written  at  the  demand  of  the  guards  of  Paris,  who  wished 
to  know  whence  came  and  whither  went  the  carts  of  pro¬ 
visions  that  passed  daily  through  the  gates  of  the  city.  “I, 
the  undersigned,  superior  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Priests 
of  the  Mission,”  he  writes,  “certify  to  all  whom  it  may  con¬ 
cern  that,  upon  receiving  notice  from  some  pious  persons  of 
this  city  that  half  of  the  inhabitants  of  Palaiseau  were  sick, 
of  whom  ten  or  twelve  died  each  day,  and  at  the  request 
which  they  have  made  to  me  to  send  some  priests  for  the  cor¬ 
poral  and  spiritual  assistance  of  this  poor  afflicted  people  be¬ 
cause  of  the  sojourn  of  the  army  in  this  place  for  the  period 
of  twenty  days,  we  have  dispatched  thither  four  priests  and 
a  surgeon  to  assist  these  poor  people ;  and  we  have  forwarded 
to  them  every  day  (one  or  two  excepted)  since  the  eve  of  the 
feast  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  sixteen  large  white  breads, 
fifteen  pints  of  wine,  and  yesterday  some  meat ;  and  the  above 
priests  of  our  Company  having  told  me  it  is  nesessary  to 
send  some  flour  and  a  hogshead  of  wine  for  the  assistance  of 
the  said  poor  sick  and  of  those  of  the  surrounding  villages, 
I  have  ordered  a  three-horse  cart  to  depart  today  laden  with 
four  measures  of  flour  and  two  half-hogsheads  of  wine  for 
the  relief  of  the  said  poor  of  Palaiseau  and  the  surrounding 
villages.”  125 

The  missionaries  went  each  day  from  village  to  village 
with  beasts  laden  with  the  victuals  and  the  clothes  which 


124  Ibid.,  37 9.  No.  832,  To  M.  Lambert,  Jan.  3,  1652. 

125  Abelly,  iii.,  176;  Lett.,  ii.,  431.  No.  873,  June  5,  1652. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


319 


were  being-  forwarded  to  them  from  Paris,  and  distributed 
them  to  the  poor  ‘'according  to  the  needs  of  each  one.”126 

In  the  meantime,  soup  kitchens  or  stations  were  being 
established  in  all  the  centers  of  distress,  whence  soup  was 
daily  distributed  to  all  the  needy.  St.  Vincent  writes  in 
1652  that  soup  was  being  distributed  to  almost  fifteen  thou¬ 
sand  poor,  residents  and  refugees  of  the  city  of  Paris,  “who 
would  die  of  hunger  without  this  assistance.”  127  The  seven 
or  eight  hundred  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  vicinity  of 
Saint-Lazare,  came  in  the  morning  and  again  in  the  after¬ 
noon  to  receive  food  at  the  door  of  Saint-Lazare.  The 
Daughters  of  Charity,  at  the  same  time,  were  boiling  and 
distributing  soup  daily  to  thirteen  hundred  poor  at  the  house 
of  Mile,  le  Gras.  In  the  suburb  of  Saint-Denis  they  were 
rendering  like  relief  to  eight  hundred  refugees  and  were 
also  busy  in  a  number  of  the  parishes.  In  the  parish  of 
Saint-Paul  alone  four  or  five  of  them  distributed  soup  to  the 
poor,  who  numbered  daily  from  five  to  eight  thousand, 
besides  caring  for  the  sixty  or  eighty  sick  who  were  under 
their  charge.1255 

They  gave  similar  assistance  to  the  poor  in  the  cities  and 
villages  of  the  vicinity  of  Paris.  But  before  establishing 
these  centers  of  relief,  the  missionaries  first  took  a  general 
survey,  traversing  the  entire  region  and  ascertaining  which 
localities  had  suffered  most  from  the  soldiers  and  where  the 
people  were  most  in  need.  Hence  it  is  that  particularly 
Etampes,  Guillerval,  Villeconnin,  Etrechy  and  Saint-Arnoult 
became  the  centers  to  which  the  destitute  of  the  respective 
places  and  of  their  environs  flocked  to  receive  their  daily 
portion. 

St.  Vincent,  however,  did  not  content  himself  with 
assisting  only  those  who  applied  for  relief.  He  knew  that 
shame  and  other  reasons  always  kept  some,  especially  among 
the  refugees,  from  joining  the  bread  line  with  the  ordinary 
poor.  He  therefore,  gave  orders  that  a  priest  accompanied 


126  Abellv,  i.,  285. 

127  Lett.,  ii.,  438,  No.  878,  To  M.  Lagault,  Doctor  of  Sorbonne  at  Rome, 
June  21,  1652;  Ibid.,  441,  No.  879,  To  M.  Lambert,  June  21,  1652. 

128  Ibid.,  441-2,  No.  879;  Ibid.,  443,  No.  880,  To  the  Daughters  of  Char, 
at  le  Valpuiseau,  June  23,  1T52. 


320 


THE  CHARITIES 


by  a  lay  brother  should  seek  them  out  in  their  dwellings, 
which  only  too  often  were  but  hovels  or  garrets.  In  this 
manner  they  had  an  opportunity  of  studying  the  individual 
needs  of  these  poor  and  of  giving  them  the  necessary  relief, 
and  also  the  priest  was  always  at  hand  to  administer  spirit¬ 
ual  aid  to  the  sick  where  needed. 

Moreover,  throughout  this  entire  period,  St.  Vincent 
always  had  some  lay  brother  on  the  highways  in  the  vicinity 
of  Paris  to  distribute  relief  to  those  who  were  otherwise 
unable  to  receive  it. 

Particular  care  was  taken  of  the  orphans.  At  Etampes, 
v  for  example,  a  special  house  was  set  aside  for  the  purpose. 
The  orphans  of  the  city  and  of  the  neighboring  villages  were 
assembled  and  brought  hither,  where  they  were  given  food 
and  clothing  and  were  cared  for  spiritually. 

As  during  the  other  periods  of  relief,  so  also  here  the 
unprotected  girl  was  a  problem  with  which  St.  Vincent  found 
himself  confronted.  Eight  or  nine  hundred  women  and  girls 
were  provided  for.  St.  Vincent  entrusted  this  work  to  the 
personal  care  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity.  The  Ladies  divided 
them  into  groups — at  times  as  many  as  a  hundred  in  a 
group,  as,  for  example,  in  the  suburb  of  Saint-Denis — and 
lodged  each  group  in  a  separate  house,  rented,  if  necessary, 
for  the  purpose.  Here  they  were  furnished  with  all  neces¬ 
saries  of  life  and,  at  the  same  time,  given  religious 
instruction. 

Among  those  who  fled  to  Paris  before  the  approaching 
armies  were  also  a  number  of  religious  women.  Some  were 
without  shelter  at  all,  others  were  forced  to  take  lodging 
in  places  not  above  suspicion,  while  others  lived  with  their 
relatives.  Many  of  them  were,  therefore,  in  physical  need, 
while  all  were  in  greater  or  less  moral  danger.  Vincent  had 
them  taken  to  a  convent  especially  prepared  for  them 
and  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Sainte- 
Marie.129 

A  further  class  of  indigents  to  whom  St.  Vincent 
extended  his  charity  at  this  time  were  the  poor  parish 
priests,  vicars,  and  other  priests  who  had  sought  shelter  in 


129  Ibid.,  429,  No.  871;  Ibid.,  438,  No.  878;  Ibid.,  441,  No.  879. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


321 


the  capital.  They  were  lodged  at  Saint-Lazare,  where 
all  their  needs,  physical  and  spiritual,  were  atnply  pro¬ 
vided  for. 

During  this  period,  as  always,  St.  Vincent  did  not  forget 
the  soul  while  ministering  to  the  needs  of  the  body.  Some 
of  the  missionaries  were  deputed  exclusively  to  the  care  of 
souls,  as  we  have  seen,  while  others  divided  their  energies 
between  the  spiritual  and  the  corporal.  In  1652  Vincent 
attended  a  meeting  concerning  the  spiritual  care  of  the 
refugees  in  Paris,  at  which  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  pre¬ 
sided.  To  establish  his  claim  to  give  missions  to  these  poor, 
Vincent  based  his  argument  on  the  legal  maxim  that  one 
may  take  possession  of  one’s  property  wherever  found. 
Now,  he  argues,  “we  have  the  obligation  to  go  to  serve”  the 
poor  people  “in  the  country  when  they  are  there ;  they  are 
our  portion;  and  now  that  they  come  to  us  .  .  .,  it  seems 
that  we  are  more  strictly  obliged  to  labor  for  their  salvation 
in  their  present  affliction,  under  the  good  pleasure,  however, 
of  his  Grace  the  Archbishop.”  His  characteristic  readiness 
to  change  his  rules  and  organization  to  meet  present  needs 
overcame  the  objection  that  the  missionaries  were  forbidden 
to  conduct  missions  in  episcopal  cities.  Concerning  this 
objection  he  writes :  “I  have  answered  that  the  submission 
we  owe  to  the  prelates  does  not  allow  us  to  dispense  ourselves 
from  such  missions  when  they  command  us  to  give  them.”130 

Within  a  week  after  this  meeting  the  missionaries  were 
conducting  a  mission  in  the  church  of  Saint-Lazare  for  the 
eight  hundred  refugees  in  that  district  and  also  for  those 
of  the  parish  of  Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet.131  It  appears 
that  the  mission  was  almost  continuous  at  Saint-Lazare. 
When  the  poor  assembled  to  receive  their  daily  alms,  a  ser¬ 
mon  was  preached  to  them  after  which  the  men  and  boys 
were  taken  into  the  cloister.  Here  they  were  divided  into 
nine  or  ten  bands,  with  priests  assigned  to  each  for  more 
particular  instruction,  while  the  women  and  girls  were  given 
further  instruction  in  the  church.  St.  Vincent  took  an  active 
part  in  these  instructions.  The  orphans  and  the  girls  and 
women  who  fell  to  the  charge  of  St.  Vincent  and  his  workers 

130  Ibid.,  435,  No.  876,  To  M.  d’Horgny,  Supr.  at  Rome,  June  13,  1652. 

131  Ibid.,  440,  No.  879,  To  M.  Lambert,  June  21,  1652. 


322 


THE  CHARITIES 


also  received  religious  instruction.  A  special  spiritual 
retreat  was  given  to  the  religious  women  who  had  fled  to 
Paris. 

F.  The  Relief  of  Mcicon 

Though  prior  in  time  to  the  public  miseries  treated  in 
the  preceding  pages,  the  relief  of  Macon  may  well  find  a 
place  here.  In  1623,  on  his  way  from  Marseilles  to  Paris, 
St.  Vincent  passed  through  the  city  of  Macon.  Here  he 
found  the  inhabitants  in  a  most  deplorable  state  of  spiritual 
and  corporal  misery.  They  were  ignorant,  or  oblivious,  of 
their  religious  duties  and  lived  in  open  violation  of  the  laws 
of  God  and  Church.  They  lined  the  streets  and  filled  the 
churches  begging  alms  with  insolence  and  effrontery. 

St.  Vincent  had  compassion  on  them  and  resolved  to 
relieve  the  situation.  He  began  by  obtaining  the  consent  of 
the  bishop,  Louis  Dinet,  and  by  enlisting  the  cooperation  of 
the  two  ecclesiastical  chapters  of  the  city,  of  the  lieutenant 
general,  and  of  other  ecclesiastical  and  civil  dignitaries.  A 
constitution  was  then  drafted  and  the  poor  were  divided 
into  two  classes :  the  beggars,  and  the  poor  who  were 
ashamed  to  beg.  A  list  was  drawn  up  of  all  the  poor  who 
wished  to  remain  in  the  city.  The  beggars,  who  numbered 
about  three  hundred,  were  to  receive  alms  on  certain  days. 
They  were  obliged  to  assemble  at  the  church  of  Saint-Nizier 
to  assist  at  Mass  and  spiritual  instruction.  After  the  serv¬ 
ices  they  received  bread  and  money  in  proportion  to  their 
needs,  their  inability  to  work,  and  the  number  of  their 
children.  Wood  was  also  distributed  during  the  winter 
months.  All  who  received  alms  were  obliged  to  receive  the 
sacraments  of  the  Church  once  a  month.  They  were  for¬ 
bidden  to  beg  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  regular 
weekly  allowance.  It  was  also  withheld  in  case  of  any  jus¬ 
tified  complaint  against  them. 

The  passers-by  were  given  free  lodging  for  the  night  and 
sent  off  in  the  morning  with  two  sous.  The  poor  who  were 
ashamed  to  beg  were  provided  with  food  in  health  and  with 
medicines  in  sickness. 

Both  agents  and  resources  were  requisite  for  the  enforce- 
ment  of  these  regulations.  The  former  were  procured  bv 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


323 


the  establishment  of  two  associations,  one  of  men,  the  other 
of  women.  Each  was  divided  into  several  committees 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  healthy,  the  sick,  the  poor  of  the 
city,  and  the  strangers,  of  their  respective  sex. 

The  most  prominent  ladies  of  the  city  belonged  to  the 
association  of  the  women,  while  the  bishop,  the  dean  of  the 
cathedral,  the  provost  of  Saint-Pierre,  and  the  lieutenant 
general,  headed  the  men.  They  formed  a  bureau  composed 
of  ten  directors.  Of  these  two  were  ecclesiastics,  one  of 
whom  presided  in  the  absence  of  the  bishop ;  the  others  were 
civil  officials  and  prominent  laymen. 

The  members  of  both  associations  met  weekly  to  indicate 
the  sick  and  the  poor  who  were  to  receive  assistance  and  to 
eliminate  from  the  list  those  who  had  become  unworthy  or 
who  were  no  longer  in  need.  They  visited  the  bashful  poor, 
and  more  particularly  the  sick,  at  their  homes  twice  a  week. 
The  work  began  without  a  common  treasury,  but  St.  Vincent 
knew  how  to  interest  and  enthuse  the  great  and  the  lowly  so 
that  all  contributed  in  money  or  kind  according  to  their 
ability. 

Within  the  short  space  of  three  weeks,  the  face  of  the 
city  was  changed.  St.  Vincent,  writing  to  Mile,  le  Gras 
twelve  years  later,  says  of  his  work  here :  “When  the  con¬ 
fraternity  was  established  at  Macon  all  ridiculed  me  and 
pointed  their  finger  at  me  in  the  streets ;  and  when  the  work 
was  completed  all  burst  into  tears  of  joy,  and  the  officials  of 
the  city  did  me  so  much  honor  upon  departing  that,  not 
being  able  to  bear  it,  I  was  compelled  to  leave  by  stealth  in 
order  to  evade  this  demonstration.' ”132 

The  scope  of  the  confraternity  was  extended  in  the  course 
of  time.  Its  members  labored  for  the  abolition  of  duelling 
and  for  the  termination  of  dissensions  and  lawsuits.  It  was 
the  success  and  the  splendid  results  of  this  and  similar  con¬ 
fraternities  of  St.  Vincent  that  inspired  the  clergy  of  France, 
assembled  at  Pontoise  in  1670,  to  exhort  all  the  bishops  of 
the  realm  to  establish  them  in  the  dioceses.133 

The  outstanding  features  of  the  work  of  St.  Vincent  at 
Macon  were  the  prominent  role  played  by  the  civil  and 

132  Lett.,  i.,  107-8,  No.  ioi,  July  21,  1635. 

133  Abelly,  i.,  96-99;  Maynard,  i.,  144-8. 


324 


THE  CHARITIES 


ecclesiastical  authorities,  the  bureau  of  charity  established 
for  the  elimination  of  begging,  the  visiting  of  the  sick  and 
the  shamed  poor  in  their  homes,  and  the  night  asylums.  If 
St.  Vincent  deviated  from  his  wonted  programme  in  some 
of  these  points,  he  thereby  merely  showed  his  ability  of 
adapting  his  efforts  to  local  exigencies  and  to  the  wishes  of 
those  with  whom  he  had  to  deal. 

The  relief  wThich  St.  Vincent  administered  during  the 
public  calamities,  extended  with  practically  no  interruption 
over  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years.  His  first 
biographer  styles  the  complex  of  these  charitable  under¬ 
takings  “a  masterpiece  of  charity  which  has  never  yet  had 
its  like.”  Ancient  historians  record,  he  continues,  various 
examples  of  extreme  miseries  caused  by  war,  of  devastated 
cities,  provinces,  and  entire  kingdoms,  but  one  fails  to  read 
that  in  the  midst  of  these  horrors  and  disorders  the  spiritual 
and  corporal  wTorks  of  mercy  were  performed  for  the  relief, 
not  only  of  a  few  individuals,  but  of  entire  peoples ;  not  only 
during  a  passing  encounter  or  for  a  few  days,  but  during  a 
long  sequel  of  years,  and  that,  too,  in  regions  where  justice 
had  lost  its  force,  where  legitimate  authority  was  no  longer 
recognized,  and  where  laws  and  ordinances  of  kings  were 
trampled  under  foot.134  St.  Vincent  expressed  himself  sim¬ 
ilarly  at  times  in  his  conferences  to  the  Ladies  of  Charity.135 

Letters  written  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  officials  of 
the  aided  cities  testify  to  the  good  results  produced  while 
at  the  same  time  giving  expression  to  the  people’s  grati¬ 
tude.130  An  altar  was  consecrated  to  the  honor  of  St.  Vin¬ 
cent  in  the  cathedral  of  Verdun,  in  memory  of  the  benefits 
he  procured  for  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  and  of  entire 
Lorraine.  After  the  relief  of  the  village  of  Gennevilliers, 
the  people  deputed  their  principal  citizens  to  express  their 
gratitude  and  appreciation  to  St.  Vincent  for  his  timely 
efforts  in  their  behalf. 


134  Abelly,  ii.,  483-4. 

135  Cf.,  v.g.,  Lett,  et  Confer.  (Sup pi),  205  and  215,  Confer,  at  Gen. 
Assemb.  of  Lad.  of  Char.,  July  11,  1657. 

136  Cf.,  v.g.,  Testimony  of  Jean  Midot,  vicar  general  of  Toul,  1639;  of 
civil  officials  of  Metz,  1640;  of  civil  officials  at  Pont-a-Mousson,  1640. 
Abelly,  ii.,  487-9,  493. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


325 


But  the  greatest  and  most  far-reaching  mark  of  recogni¬ 
tion  that  Vincent’s  charitable  interest  and  efficiency  elicited 
during  this  period  is  contained  in  a  royal  ordinance  of  safe- 
conduct  issued  about  1652  in  favor  of  the  missionaries 
engaged  in  the  relief  of  Picardy  and  Champagne.  The 
ordinance  opens  with  the  statement  that  the  king  has  been 
informed  of  the  miseries  of  these  two  provinces,  of  the  alms 
donated  by  the  Parisians,  and  of  the  efforts  of  “the  priests 
of  the  Mission  of  M.  Vincent  and  other  charitable  persons 
sent”  to  distribute  them  to  the  most  needy.  The  king  has 
likewise  been  informed,  the  ordinance  continues,  that  “the 
soldiers  passing  through,  or  sojourning  in,  the  places  where 
the  said  missionaries  are  employed,  have  seized  and  rifled 
the  ornaments  of  the  church  and  the  provisions  of  victuals, 
clothes,  and  other  things  destined  for  the  poor,  so  that  if  they 
have  no  security  on  the  part  of  his  Majesty,  it  will  be  impos¬ 
sible  for  them  to  continue  a  work  so  charitable  and  so 
important  for  the  glory  of  God  and  for  the  relief  of  the 
subjects  of  his  Majesty.” 

The  king,  we  read  further,  “desiring  to  contribute  to 
this  all  that  lies  in  his  power,  at  the  advice  of  the  queen 
regent,  most  expressly  forbids  the  governors  and  their  lieu¬ 
tenants  general  in  their  provinces  and  armies,  field-marshals 
and  governors  of  the  camp,  colonels,  captains,  and  other 
officers  commanding  their  troops,  both  cavalry  and  infantry, 
French  and  foreigner,  of  whatsoever  nation  they  be,  to  lodge, 
or  allow  to  be  lodged,  any  soldiers  in  the  villages  of  the  said 
frontiers  of  Picardy  and  Champagne  for  which  the  said 
priests  of  the  Mission  will  have  demanded  of  them  protection 
to  assist  the  poor  and  the  sick  and  to  distribute  the  pro¬ 
visions  they  will  bring  thither,  so  that  they  may  there  enjoy 
full  and  complete  liberty  to  exercise  charity  in  the  manner 
which,-  and  towards  whom,  they  deem  fit.  Moreover,  his 
Majesty  forbids  all  the  soldiers  to  seize  anything  from  the 
priests  of  the  Mission  and  from  persons  employed  with  them 
or  by  them  under  penalty  of  death;  taking  them  under  his 
protection  and  special  safe-keeping  by  enjoining  very 
expressly  upon  all  the  bailiffs,  seneschals,  judges,  provosts 
of  the  marshals,  and  other  officers  whom  it  may  concern,  to 
see  to  the  execution  and  publication  of  this  present  and  to 


326 


THE  CHARITIES 


prosecute  the  offenders  so  that  their  punishment  may  serve 
as  an  example.”137 

This  ordinance,  as  the  text  itself  states,  was  issued  at 
the  advice  of  the  queen  regent.  She,  in  turn,  was  undoubt¬ 
edly  prompted  by  St.  Vincent,  who  had  seen  the  need  of  such 
a  measure  on  his  tour  of  investigation  and  inspection  in  the 
provinces  shortly  before.  The  ordinance  is,  in  the  first 
place,  of  historical  value,  since  it  gives  us  an  insight  into 
some  of  the  difficulties  with  which  St.  Vincent  had  to  cope 
in  his  relief  work.  But  its  principal  value  lies  in  the 
immunity  and  protection  against  molestation  and  seizure 
which  it  assures  Vincent  and  his  coworkers.  A  third  feature, 
and  the  one  of  greatest  interest  to  us  here,  is  the  fact  that 
it  gives  the  stamp  of  royal  approval  to  Vincent’s  work  as 
he  was  conducting  it  and  implicitly  creates  him  an  almoner 
of  the  realm,  granting  him  and  his  helpers  the  monopoly  of 
relief  work  in  the  devastated  provinces  of  Picardy  and 
Champagne. 13S 

A  retrospect  of  these  twenty  years  of  relief  work  dis¬ 
closes  that  St.  Vincent  conducted  the  different  phases  of  his 
work  along  certain  well  defined  lines.  On  several  occasions 
he  very  distinctly  struck  at  the  root  of  the  evil.  He  used 
discrimination  in  the  distribution  of  alms.  The  spiritual 
works  of  mercy,  wherever  possible,  went  hand  in  hand  with 
material  relief.  The  priests  did  not  restrict  their  activities 
to  the  care  of  souls,  but  were  employed  with  the  lay  brothers 
and  the  Daughters  of  Charity  in  the  distribution  of  alms 
and  in  other  charitable  services.  The  sensibilities  of  the 
poor  were  respected ;  those  whom  shame  restrained  from 
begging  were  sought  after  and  received  aid  at  home.133 
Publicity  was  resorted  to  as  a  means  of  making  known  the 
needs  of  the  poor  and  thus  of  procuring  alms.  Especially  in 


137  Taken  from  Ordonnances  militaircs,  vi.,  xxviii.  and  cited  in  full  in 
Abellv.  ii..  Pieces  Justificative s,  638-9. 

138  It  is  pressing  the  evidence  too  far  to  conclude  from  this  ordinance,  as 
some  biographers  have  done,  that  Vincent  was  even  virtually  hereby  created 
almoner  of  the  entire  realm.  The  ordinance  refers  only  to  the  provinces 
of  Picardy  and  Champagne. 

139  In  one  of  his  letters  to  Jean  Parre  he  instructs  him  to  visit  a  certain 
family  secretly  and,  if  he  finds  it  in  great  need,  to  give  it  alms,  hut  in  such 
a  way  that  only  Mile.  Viole,  the  treasurer  of  the  Ladies  of  Charity,  learns 
of  it,  Lett.,  iii.,  635,  Xo.  1517,  Oct.  24,  1657. 


OF  ST.  VINCENT  DE  PAUL 


327 


the  relief  of  the  provinces,  we  note  the  persistent  endeavor 
to  make  the  poor  self-supporting;  the  parish  priests  were 
rehabilitated,  local  confraternities  of  charity  organized, 
hospitals  restored,  the  healthy  poor  supplied  with  the  means 
of  earning  their  livelihood,  and  relief  withheld  as  soon  as  the 
conditions  had  improved. 


CONCLUSION 


St.  Vincent  de  Paul  is  well-deserving  of  the  prominence 
and  honor  he  enjoys  as  model  and  patron  of  Catholic  char¬ 
ities.  He  owes  his  greatness,  however,  not  so  much  to 
originality  of  principle  or  method  in  caring  for  the  needs 
of  suffering  humanity,  as  to  the  vastness  and  variety  of  his 
undertakings,  to  his  remarkable  ability  and  judgment  in 
enlisting  the  aid  and  organizing  the  efforts  of  men  and 
women  of  all  classes  of  society  for  purposes  of  relief;  and 
to  his  gift  of  inspiring  others  with  his  glowing  love  for  the 
poor  and  with  his  indomitable  courage  in  continuing,  at 
any  cost,  a  work  once  undertaken.  His  quiet,  unpretentious 
methods  of  procedure  in  the  field  of  charity,  his  utter  disin¬ 
terestedness  and  his  love  and  sympathy  for  the  poor  and 
suffering  won  for  him  the  confidence  and  love  of  his  con¬ 
temporaries. 

He  early  learned  the  advantages  and  the  possibilities  of 
organized  charity  and  practiced  it  for  a  period  of  forty- 
three  years.  His  eminently  practical  bent  of  mind,  united 
with  his  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  the 
needs  of  the  poor,  together  with  his  disposition  to  study  a 
matter  from  all  its  angles,  to  learn  by  experimenting,  and 
to  consult  the  views  of  others  in  all  matters,  enabled  him 
to  constitute  his  organizations  along  lines  so  simple,  so 
practical,  and  so  well-suited  to  the  needs  of  the  poor,  that 
they  can  be  adopted  in  any  age  with  but  slight  modifications 
to  meet  the  demands  of  changing  conditions.  All  his  con¬ 
fraternities  were  under  direct  ecclesiastical  supervision. 

He  insisted  on  the  frequent  holding  of  meetings  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  interest  and  enthusiasm,  of  creating 
a  better  understanding  and  fostering  charity  and  coopera¬ 
tion  among  the  workers,  of  ascertaining  the  needs  of  the 
poor,  and  of  discussing  means  of  relief.  We  fail  to  find, 
however,  systematic  cooperation  in  any  marked  degree 
between  his  confraternities  and  other  organizations. 

329 


He  received  the  necessary  funds  from  endowments  and 
private  contributions.  He  made  use  of  publicity  as  a  means 
of  bringing  the  needs  of  the  poor  before  the  people  and  of 
arousing  interest  in  their  relief,  and  thus  indirectly  of  pro¬ 
curing  alms.  He  received  substantial  aid  from  the  king  and 
queen  and  other  public  officials,  but  he  did  not  advocate 
systematic  social  legislation  or  government  appropriations. 

According  to  St.  Vincent’s  principles  and  methods,  only 
the  strictly  needy  are  entitled  to  charitable  assistance. 
Their  degree  of  need  is  in  proportion  to  their  inability  to 
earn  an  honest  livelihood.  To  determine  this  need  in  indi¬ 
vidual  cases,  investigations  are  necessary.  We  also  find 
some  traces  of  case  records  in  his  work.  The  relief  in 
general  was  suited  to  the  particular  need.  Vincent,  how¬ 
ever,  always  endeavored  to  rehabilitate  the  victims  of  mis¬ 
fortune,  and  preferred  relief  in  the  home  to  institutional 
care. 

He  saw  the  need  of  trained  social  workers.  While  his 
preferences  were  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  full-time  worker, 
most  of  the  members  of  his  charitable  organizations  devoted 
only  their  spare  moments  to  social  relief.  In  a  few  cases 
the  workers,  both  men  and  women,  received  pecuniary 
remuneration  for  their  ministrations  of  charity. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  feature  of  St.  Vincent’s 
activities  is  the  stress  he  laid  on  the  supernatural,  or  spir¬ 
itual,  element  in  social  service.  He  insisted  that  all  who 
engaged  in  the  work  lead  blameless  lives,  and  that  they 
minister,  not  only  to  the  wants  of  the  body,  but  also,  as  far 
as  possible,  to  the  needs  of  the  soul.  His  own  life  and 
works  are  a  brilliant  example  of  the  efficacy  of  a  love  of 
fellow  men  which  is  based  on  the  love  of  God  and  supernat¬ 
ural  motives,  and  permeated  with  supernatural  values. 


330 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Of  authors  especially  referred  to  in  the  course  of  this  treatise. 

Documents. 

Avis  ct  Conferences  spirituelles  de  S.  Vincent  dc  Paul  aux  Membres  dc  la 
Congregation ,  Paris,  1881. 

Conferences  de  S.  Jdncent  de  Paul  aux  Filles  de  la  Charite,  2  vols.,  Paris, 
1881. 

Lettrcs  dc  S.  Vincent  de  Paul,  4  vols.,  Paris,  1880. 

Lettres  et  Conferences  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul  (Supplement) ;  Proccs-V er- 
baux  dcs  Assemblers  et  des  Conseils;  Rcglcrnents  Divers,  Paris,  1888. 

Works  Referring  Directly 
To  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  and  his  Activities. 

Abelly,  Louis,  La  vie  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul,  3  vols.,  Paris,  1664,  latest  ed., 
Paris,  1891. 

Bougaud,  Mon.,  History  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  Founder  of  the  Congrega¬ 
tion  of  the  Mission  and  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  tr.  Rev.  Jos.  Brady, 
2  vols.,  London,  1899. 

Collet,  C.  M.,  Vie  de  S.  Vincent  de  Paul ,  Nancy,  1748,  English  tr.,  Balti¬ 
more,  1845. 

Coste,  C.  M.,  Pierre,  Saint  Vincent  dc  Paul  et  les  Dames  dc  la  Charite, 
Paris,  1917. 

Feillet,  Alphonse,  La  misere  an  temps  dc  la  Fronde  et  de  S.  Vincent  dc 
Paul,  ou  Un  chapitrc  de  I’histoire  du  pauperisme  en  France,  Paris,  1862. 

Goyau,  Georges,  Les  Dames 'dc  la  Charite  de  Monsieur  Vincent,  1617-1660, 
Paris,  1918. 

Maynard,  Michael  U.,  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  sa  vie,  son  temps,  3  vols., 
Paris,  1850-74. 

Misermont,  C.  M.,  Lucien,  Lc  Primicr  liopital  des  flics  dc  la  Charite  ct  scs 
glorieuses  martyres:  les  soeurs  Marie-Anne  et  Odile  fusillees  a  Angers, 
le  premier  Fcvrier,  1794,  Paris,  1913. 

Revue  dc  Gascogne,  1910,  art.:  S.  Vincent  dc  Paul  a-t-il  pris  ci  Marseilles 
les  fers  d’un  forcatf ,  Pierre  Coste,  C.  M. 

Revue  de  Gascogne,  1911,  art.:  A  quelle  date  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  est-il 
net,  Pierre  Coste,  C.  M. 

V  orks  Referring  to  General  Conditions  of  the  Times. 

Adams,  George  Burton,  The  Grozoth  of  the  French  Nation,  N.  Y.,  T90S. 

Allain,  1  Abbe,  /  Instruction  primaire  en  France  avant  la  Revolution .  Paris, 
1881. 


331 


d’Avenel,  Le  vicomte  George,  La  fortune  privec  a  travers~sept  siccles,  Paris, 

1895. 

d’Avenel,  Le  vicomte  George,  Paysans  et  ouvriers  depuis  sept  cents  ans, 
Paris,  1899. 

Chevalier,  A.,  L’H otel-Dieu  de  Paris  et  les  soeurs  Augustines  de  630  A.D.  d 
1810,  Paris,  1901. 

Compayre,  Gabriel,  History  of  Pedagogy,  tr.  by  W.  H.  Payne,  Boston,  1888. 

Cook,  E.  T.,  Life  of  Florence  Nightingale,  2  vols.,  N.  Y.,  1913. 

Franklin,  A.,  L’ enfant,  Paris. 

Gerando,  Baron  de,  De  la  bienfaisance  publique ,  vol.  ii.,  Paris,  1839. 

Hatin,  Eugene,  Tlieophraste  Renaudot ,  Paris,  1883. 

Heimbucher,  Max,  Die  Ordcn  and  Kongregationen  der  katholischen  Kirche, 
2  vols.,  Paderborn,  "1896-7. 

Helyot,  Le  R.  P.,  Dictionnaire  des  ordres  religieux,  on  histoire  des  ordres 
monastiques,  religieux  et  militaires,  4  vols.,  Migne  ed.,  Paris,  1847-59. 

Johnson,  A.  H.,  Europe  in  the  Sixteenth  Century,  1494-1398,  5th  ed.,  Lon¬ 
don,  1909. 

Lallemand,  Leon,  Histoire  de  la  charite,  vols.  iii.  and  iv.  (2  parts),  Paris, 
1906,  1910,  1912. 

Lallemand,  Leon,  Histoire  des  enfants  abandonnes  et  delaisses,  Paris,  1885. 

Levasseur,  E.,  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvrieres  et  de  1’ Industrie  cn  Prance 
avant  7789,  vol.  ii.,  Paris,  1901. 

Lodge,  Richard,  Richelieu,  N.  Y.,  1896. 

Martin  Saint-Leon,  Etienne,  Histoire  des  Corporations  de  Metiers  depuis 
leurs  origines  jusqu’  a  leur  Suppression  en  1791,  Paris,  1897. 

McCormick,  Patrick  J.,  Education  of  the  Laity  in  the  Middle  Ages,  series 
of  articles  in  Catholic  Educational  Review,  beginning  November,  1911. 

Nutting,  M.  Adelaide  and  Dock,  Lavinia  L.,  History  of  Nursing,  vols.  i.  and 
ii.,  N.  Y.,  and  London,  igctp. 

Ranke,  Leopold  von,  Franzocsischc  Geschichte ,  vorn.  im  sechssehnten  und 
siebensehnten  Jahrhundert,  6  vols.,  4te  Auflage,  Leipzig,  1876. 

Ravelet,  Armand,  Blessed  J.  B.  de  la  Salle,  Founder  of  the  Institute  of  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  Paris,  1888. 

Richelieu,  de,  Armand  Jean  du  Plessis,  Testament  Politique,  Amsterdam, 
1688. 

Schwill,  Ferdinand,  A  Political  History  of  Modern  Europe  from  the  Refor¬ 
mation  to  the  Present  Day,  N.  Y.,  1908. 

Statuts  d'Hdtels-Dieu  et  de  Leproscrics,  recueil  de  textes  du  XII  au  XIV 
siecle,  publ.  by  Leon  le  Grand,  Paris,  1901. 

Sully,  Maximilien  de  Bethune,  Due  de,  Memoir es,  English  tr.,  Charlotte 
Lennox,  1756. 

Tourette,  Gilles  de  la,  La  vie  et  les  oeuvres  de  Tlieophraste  Renaudot,  fon- 
datcur  des  consultations  charitables,  Paris,  1892. 

Tourette,  Gilles  de  la,  Tlieophraste  Renaudot  d’apres  des  documents  inedits, • 
Paris,  1884. 

Wakeman,  H.  O.,  Ascendency  of  France,  1398-1715,  N.  Y.,  1915. 

Weiss,  Johann  Bapt.  von,  Welt  geschichte,  vols.  viii.,  ix.,  Graz  and  Leipzig, 
1895,  1898. 


332 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


Begging,  prohibited,  n;  condemned  by  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  159,  269-70, 
272;  at  Macon,  322. 

Berulle,  Cardinal  Pierre  de,  12;  and  St.  Vincent,  15,  16. 

Bourdoise,  Adrien,  12. 

Case  Investigation,  119-24,  284-5,  299-300. 

Case  Records,  124-5,  285. 

Champagne,  relief  of,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Charity,  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  21;  obligations  of,  81-3;  well-regulated, 
83-4;  and  private  ownership,  84-5;  motives  of,  85-6.  91-2;  continuation 
of  Christ’s  mission,  89-90;  sublimity  of,  90;  organized,  see  Organized 
Charity;  discriminate,  see  Discrimination  in  Charity. 

Child  Welfare  Work,  195-234. 

Foundlings,  195-219;  prior  to  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  195-8;  beginning  of  St. 
Vincent’s  activities  in  behalf  of,  199;  undertaken  by  way  of  trial,  diffi¬ 
culties,  199-21 1 ;  number  exposed,  21 1;  mortality  rate,  212;  current 
legislation,  212;  receiving  station,  213;  nurses,  213-4;  workers  in  touch 
with,  214;  returned  to  asylum,  214-5;  St.  Vincent’s  attitude  towards, 
215-7;  results,  217-8. 

Schools,  219-28;  prior  to  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  219-22;  St.  Vincent’s 
efforts  for  primary  education,  222-5 ;  his  standard,  225 ;  purpose  of 
education  according  to  St.  Vincent,  225-7 ;  his  contribution  to  educa¬ 
tional  thought,  227-8. 

Industrial  Training,  228-34 ;  prior  to  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  228-30;  in 
devastated  provinces,  231 ;  boys  and  girls,  231-2;  manual  training  school, 
232-4. 

Christ,  the  prototype  of  Christian  charity,  89-90. 

Competition  and  social  status,  8,  9-10. 

Conditions,  financial.  6-7;  political,  1-4;  religious,  4-6;  social,  7-12. 

Confraternities,  of  charity,  their  extension,  104;  officers,  105;  their  duties, 
106-9;  “guards  of  the  poor  sick,”  109;  membership,  109-10;  Confraterni¬ 
ties  of  Men,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of;  Confraternities  of  the  Towns  and 
Villages,  see  Nursing,  Visiting. 

Conservatism  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  51-7;  accommodated  himself,  51-2; 
opposed  to  radical  changes,  52-6. 

Cooperation,  114-8. 

Daughters  of  Charity,  see  Nursing,  Visiting. 

Daughters  of  Providence  and  the  Magdalens,  251-2. 

Delinquents.  235-54. 

Prison  Work,  235-43 ;  St.  Vincent,  almoner  of  the  galleys,  235;  at  Mar¬ 
seilles.  235-6;  at  Paris,  236;  spiritual  aid,  237;  material  relief,  237; 
“Society  for  the  Prisoners,”  237-8;  bequest  and  endowment  received, 
238:  daughters  of  Charity,  238;  results,  239;  at  Toulon.  239-40;  money 
forwarded  through  St.  Vincent,  240 ;  obliged  by  contract  to  render 
spiritual  aid.  240-1;  missions  conducted,  241-2;  secret  of  success,  242; 
St.  Vincent’s  attitude  toward  galley  prisoners,  242 ;  other  criminals,  243. 

Juvenile  Delinquents,  244-7;  committed  by  magistrates  to  Saint-Lazare, 
244;  admitted  without  question,  244;  method  of  treatment,  244-5;  pnr- 
pose  of  confinement,  245-6 ;  results,  246-7. 

Magdalens,  247-54;  prior  to  St.  Vincent,  247-8;  la  Madeleine ,  249-51;  St. 
Vincent  takes  charge  of,  249;  inmates,  249-50. 

333 


334 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


Daughters  of  Providence  and,  251-2. 

Special  protective  work,  252-4 ;  St.  Vincent’s  attitude  toward  Magda- 
lens,  253-4. 

Discrimination  in  charity,  119-25. 

The  Needy,  119. 

Case  Investigation,  1 19-24;  284-5;  299-300. 

Case  Records,  124-5  5  285. 

Disregard  for  law  and  order,  2-3;  a  source  of  misery,  61;  efforts  of  St. 
Vincent  to  remedy,  61-3. 

Duelling,  5-6;  St.  Vincent’s  efforts  against,  70;  323. 

Duties  of  the  state;  protection  of  individual  rights,  65;  administration  of 
justice,  65-7;  protection  of  morality,  69-70. 

Eudes,  Pere,  12,  248. 

Financial  conditions,  6-7 ;  on  verge  of  bankruptcy,  6 ;  taxes,  exorbitant,  un¬ 
evenly  divided,  collected  with  fraud,  6-7;  protests  against  taxation,  7, 
Foundlings,  see  Child  Welfare  Work. 

Francis,  Saint,  de-Sales,  n,  19.  249. 

Free  Service,  97-100  ;  preferred.  97.  99-100;  charges  made  at  times,  98. 
Frondes,  310-11  ;  relief  of  Paris  during,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Funds,  127-36. 

Private  Contributions,  127-30;  collections,  127;  poor  boxes,  127-8;  founda¬ 
tions,  128;  direct  contributions  and  legacies.  128-9;  raising  of  sheep,  129; 
part  of  revenue  of  hospital,  129. 

State  Aid,  only  in  particular  cases,  130-1. 

Publicity,  indirect  means  of  procuring  funds,  131-6;  278;  289. 

General  Estates,  2. 

Genncvilliers,  Relief  of.  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Home  for  Aged  Poor,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Home  care,  as  opposed  to  institutional,  161-2. 

I'Hopital  General,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Hospital  Nursing,*  185-90 ;  relations  between  Daughters  of  Charity  and  ad¬ 
ministrators,  186-7;  corporal  and  spiritual  aid,  187;  first  aid,  187;  daily 
routine,  187-9;  summary,  190. 

Industrial  Training,  see  Child  Welfare  Work. 

Insane,  care  of,  191-3;  at  Saint-Lazare,  191-2;  St.  Vincent’s  charity  for,  191  ; 
example  of  Christ.  191  ;  a  trying  task,  191-2;  advantages  derived  from, 
192;  justice  toward  insane.  192;  Daughters  of  Charity  and,  192-3;  atti¬ 
tude  of  St.  Vincent  towards,  193. 

Institutional  vs.  home  care,  161-2. 

Interest  taking,  56-7. 

Jansenism  and  St.  Vincent,  27. 

Justice,  maladministration  of.  3-4;  administration  of.  a  duty  of  the  state,  66-7. 
Juvenile  Delinquents,  see  Delinquents. 

Ladies  of  Charity,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Ladies  of  VHotel-Dicu,  sec  Nursing.  Visiting. 

Ladies  of  the  Parishes^  see  Nursing,  Visiting. 

Lawsuits,  St.  Vincent’s  attitude  towards,  26,  67-9. 

Livelihood,  obligation  of  earning  one’s,  157-8. 

Lorraine,  relief  of,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Maqon,  relief  of,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Magdalens,  sec  Delinquents. 

Maladministration  of  justice,  3-4. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


335 


Meetings,  to  be  held  frequently,  in,  264;  routine  at,  111-2;  importance 
of,  1 13. 

Morality,  state's  duty  to  protect,  69-70. 

Needy,  119. 

Nobles,  ambitious,  3;  checked  by  Henry  IV  and  Richelieu,  3;  how  nobility 
was  determined,  8 ;  an  economic  burden,  9. 

Nurse,  147-53;  number  of  patients,  147;  condescending  and  yielding  toward 
patients,  147-9;  not  to  nurse  indiscriminately,  149-51;  owes  obedience 
and  respect  to  physician,  15 1-3. 

Nursing,  Visiting,  165-84. 

Confraternities  of  the  Towns  and  Villages,  165-9;  quantity  and  quality 
of  food,  166;  method  of  admitting  sick,  166-7;  daily  routine,  167-8; 
“guards  of  the  poor  sick,”  168;  burying  the  dead,  168;  medical  care,  169. 

Ladies  of  the  Parishes,  169-71  ;  officers  and  duties,  170;  method  of  admit¬ 
ting  sick,  170;  who  admitted,  170-1 ;  food  furnished  by  individual 
Ladies,  171. 

Ladies  of  YHotcl-Dieu,  172-9;  officers,  173;  relations  between  Ladies  and 
religious,  173-4;  to  dress  simply,  174;  spiritual  aid,  prime  purpose,  174-5; 
special  catechism  prepared,  175;  fourteen  chosen  for  spiritual  instruction, 
175-6;  priests  appointed.  176;  results,  176-7;  corporal  relief,  177-8; 
working  relations  between  Ladies  and  religious,  178-9. 

Daughters  of  Charity,  179-83;  their  origin,  179-80;  relation  between 
Daughters  and  Ladies  of  Charity,  180-1;  daily  programme,  181-2;  visits 
outside  prescribed  times,  182-3 ;  their  relations  with  the  parish  priest, 

183. 

Priests  of  the  Mission  and  the  sick,  183-4. 

Olier,  Jean  Jacques,  12. 

Organized  charity,  need  of,  103-4;  confraternities,  their  extension,  104; 
ecclesiastical  supervision,  104-5  !  officers,  105 ;  their  duties,  106-9 ;  “guards 
of  the  poor  sick,”  109;  membership,  109-10. 

\ 

Paris,  relief  of.  during  the  Fronde,  sec  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Parliament  of  Paris,  2. 

Peace,  St.  Vincent’s  efforts  in  behalf  of,  61-3. 

Personal  sanctity  of  social  workers,  90-1. 

Personal  service,  100-2. 

Picardy," relief  of.  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Poland,  relief  of,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Political  conditions,  1-4;  France  an  absolute  monarchy,  1-2;  strengthened  by 
Richelieu,  2;  disregard  for  law  and  order,  2-3;  maladministration  of 
justice,  3-4. 

Poor,  as  a  class.  9;  made  little  effort  to  help  themselves,  11  ;  St.  Vincent’s 
love  of.  20,  73-4 ;  “our  lords  and  masters,”  74-5. 

Poverty,  plight  of  Christianity,  10;  plight  of  state,  10;  no  systematic  relief 
of,  11  ;  not  a  disgrace,  74-5;  causes  of,  75-7;  not  St.  Vincent’s  effort  to 
eliminate  it  entirely,  80. 

Poverty,  Relief  of,  255-327. 

Confraternities  of  Men,  255-8;  relation  to  women’s  confraternities,  255; 
officers  and  duties,  256-7 ;  meetings,  257 ;  “associated  servant,”  257 ; 
membership,  257 ;  success,  257-8. 

Renti,  M.  de,  and  relief  of  noble  refugees,  258-60. 

Ladies  of  Charity,  260-6;  beginnings,  260-1  ;  Ladies  of  the  Court;  purpose, 
membership,  works,  meetings,  spiritual  exercises,  261-2;  other  Ladies 
of  Charity,  262-6  ;  membership,  officers,  duties,  262-3 ;  funds,  meetings, 
spiritual  exercises,  263-4;  became  nucleus  of  other  works,  265;  growth, 
265;  motives  of  perseverance,  266. 

Home  for  the  Aged  Poor,  266-9;  occasion  of  foundation,  266-7;  arrange- 


336 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


merit  of  buildings,  267-8;  Daughters  of  Charity,  268;  spiritual  care,  268; 
manual  labor,  268 ;  number  of  inmates,  268 ;  success,  268-9. 

I’Hopital  General,  269-75;  prior  to  St.  Vincent,  269-70;  occasioned  im¬ 
mediately  by  Home  for  the  Aged  Poor,  270-1 ;  enthusiasm  of  Ladies  of 
Charity,  271-2;  opposition  of  magistrates,  272;  edict  against  mendicancy, 
272;  St.  Vincent  refuses  to  take  spiritual  charge,  272-3;  assistance  of 
St.  Vincent,  273-4;  role  played  by  St.  Vincent,.  274-5. 

Lorraine,  relief  of,  275-86 ;  miseries  depicted,  275-7 ;  beginning  of  relief,, 
278;  organization,  278;  publicity,  278;  distribution  of  alms,  278;  sick 
provided  for,  279-80;  healthy  poor  relieved,  280-1;  refugees  in  Paris, 
281-2;  spiritual  aid,  283;  estimated  amount  of  relief,  284;  case  investiga¬ 
tion,  284-5  i  case  records,  285 ;  applying  remedy  to  root  of  evil,  285-6. 

Picardy  and  Champagne,  relief  of,  286-301;  miseries,  286-9;  beginning  of 
relief,  289 ;  organization  and  methods  at  Paris  and  in  the  provinces, 
289-92;  rehabilitation  of  clergy,  292-4;  Daughters  of  Charity,  294-5; 
hospitals  restored,  295-6;  other  aid,  296-7;  orphans,  297-8;  Irish  refugees, 
298;  burying  the  dead,  298-9;  rehabilitation,  299;  case  investigation,  299- 
300;  estimated  amount  of  relief,  300-1. 

Poland,  relief  of,  301-9;  miseries,  301-2;  missionaries  sent,  303;  their  activi¬ 
ties,  303-5;  Daughters  of  Charity,  305-7;  religious  of  Sainte-Marie, 
307-8;  confraternities  of  charity,  308. 

Gennevilliers,  relief  of,  309. 

Paris,  relief  of,  during  the  Frondes,  310-22;  the  Frondes,  .310-11 ;  St. 
Vincent  goes  to  Saint-Germain,  31 1-2;  Saint-Lazare,  313;  Ladies  of 
Charity,  3T3;  applies  remedy  to  root  of  evil,  314-6;  organization  and  per¬ 
sonnel,  316-7;  central  warehouse,  317;  food  supplied,  318;  soup  kitchens, 
319;  poor  sought  out,  319-20;  orphans,  320;  unprotected  girls  and  women, 
320;  priests,  320-1;  spiritual  aid,  321-2. 

Maqon,  relief  of,  322-3 ;  organization  and  method  of  relief,  322-3 ;  results, 
323. 

Summary,  324-7. 

Priests  of  the  Mission  and  the  Sick,  see  Nursing,  Visiting. 

Prison  Work,  see  Delinquents. 

Private  ownership  and  St.  Vincent,  55-6;  and  charity,  84-5. 

Publicity,  indirect  method  of  procuring  funds,  131-6,  278,  289. 

Reform.  11-2. 

Rehabilitation,  159-61,  281,  292-4,  299. 

Relief,  general  nature  of,  155-7;  who  shall  receive,  155;  kind  of,  155;  no 
technical  standard  as  norm,  155-7;  rehabilitation,  159-61;  institutional 
vs.  home  care,  161-2. 

Relief  of  poverty,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Religious  conditions,  4-6;  national  spirit  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  4;  king 
receives  ecclesiastical  revenues,  4-5 ;  the  Church,  a  royal  institution,  5 ; 
religious  indifference  and  immorality,  5-6. 

Remedy  applied  at  root  of  evil,  77-9,  285-6,  314-6. 

Renaudot,  Theophraste,  79,  117. 

Renti,  M.  de,  see  Poverty,  Relief  of. 

Richelieu,  bent  upon  strengthening  monarchy,  2;  opposed  by  St.  Vincent, 
19-20,  61,  64. 

Rights,  individual,  absorbed  by  state,  2;  duty  of  state  to  protect,  65. 

Royal  power,  origin  and  nature  of,  2;  according  to  St.  Vincent,  59;  obedience 
due  to,  59-61 ;  duties  of :  protection  of  individual  rights,  65 ;  adminis¬ 
tration  of  justice,  65-7;  protection  of  morality,  69-70. 

Schools,  see  Child  Welfare  Work. 

Service,  free,  preferred,  97,  99-100;  charges  made  at  times,  98. 

Service,  personal,  100-2. 

Sin,  a  source  of  public  misery,  75-7. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


337 


Social  classes  and  St.  Vincent,  54-5. 

Social  conditions,  7-12;  increase  of  population,  7;  influence  of  feudalism, 
7-8 ;  clergy,  nobles,  third  estate,  8 ;  a  financial  burden  and  an  economic 
asset,  9;  the  rich  and  the  poor,  9;  competition  and  social  status,  9-10. 

Social  service,  all  classes  to  engage  in,  137-9. 

Social  workers : 

Personal  sanctity  of,  90-1;  to  be  drawn  from  all  classes,  137;  women 
played  more  important  role,  137-8;  relative  efficiency,  138-9. 

Trained  social  worker,  139-44;  need  of,  139-40;  method  and  nature  of 
training,  140-4. 

Full-time  workers  preferred,  144-5. 

Volunteer  workers  preferred,  145-7. 

Soup  kitchens,  319. 

State,  priests  and  affairs  of,  70-2. 

State  aid,  only  in  particular  cases,  130-1. 

State  power,  see  Royal  power. 

Supernatural  in  social  service,  89-97;  active  charity,  a  continuation  of 
Christ’s  mission,  89-90;  dignity  of  active  charity,  90;  personal  sanctity 
of  social  workers,  90- 1 ;  supernatural  motive,  91-2;  care  for  spiritual 
needs,  92-6,  268,  283,  321-2;  its  influence  on  corporal  relief,  96-7. 

Taxes,  exorbitant,  unevenly  divided,  collected  with  fraud,  6-7;  protests 
against,  7. 

Trained  social  worker,  see  Social  workers. 

Vincent  de  Paul,  Saint,  biographical  sketch  of,  13-7;  physical  appearance  of, 
17;  sickly,  17-9;  meek,  19;  lack  of  human  respect  in,  19-20;  affable,  20; 
his  love  for  poor,  20-1 ;  reluctant  to  open  up  new  fields,  21-2;  absence  of 
jealousy  in,  23-4;  unobtrusive,  25-6;  opposed  to  lawsuits,  26;  educated, 
26-7;  and  Jansenism,  27;  his  grasp  of  mind,  27;  prudent,  28-9;  his 
humility  of  judgment,  29-34;  learned  by  experience.  34-6;  his  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  36-40;  sincere  in  character,  41-2;  slow,  42-5;  per¬ 
severing,  45  ;  a  miser  of  time,  46 ;  fitted  for  his  work,  46-7 ;  accommo¬ 
dated  himself,  51-2;  opposed  to  radical  changes,  52-5. 

Visiting  nursing,  see  Nursing,  Visiting. 

W  ar,  not  intrinsically  wrong,  63-5;  a  source  of  poverty,  75. 


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VITA  AUCTORIS 


The  author  of  this  dissertation  was  born  at  Wray,  Colo¬ 
rado,  November  24,  1890.  He  made  his  early  studies  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  State  and  at  St.  Francis’ 
Academy,  Columbus,  Nebraska.  After  pursuing  the  clas¬ 
sical  course  of  five  years  at  St.  Joseph’s  College,  Teutopolis, 
Illinois,  he  entered  the  noviciate  of  the  Franciscan  Order, 
also  at  Teutopolis,  Illinois,  June  21,  1910.  He  was  admitted 
to  profession  the  following  year  and  spent  two  further  years 
in  the  study  of  the  classics  at  Franciscan  Monastery,  Quincy, 
Illinois.  He  devoted  two  years  to  Scholastic  Philosophy  and 
three  to  Sacred  Theology  at  Franciscan  Monastery,  West 
Park,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood 
July  7,  1918.  After  devoting  another  year  to  the  study  of 
Theology  at  Franciscan  Monastery,  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  he 
matriculated  in  the  School  of  Philosophy  of  the  Catholic 
University  of  America,  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  September, 
1919.  He  took  courses  in  Sociology  under  Doctor  William  J. 
Kerby  and  Doctor  John  O’Grady,  in  Economics  under  Doc¬ 
tor  John  O’Grady,  and  in  Industrial  Ethics  under  Doctor 
John  A.  Ryan.  In  addition  to  these  branches,  he  also  studied 
Ethics  under  the  late  Doctor  James  J.  Fox  and  the  Philos¬ 
ophy  of  Evolution  under  Doctor  Edward  A.  Pace.  At 
present  he  is  engaged  as  professor  of  Natural  Theology, 
Moral  Philosophy,  and  Sociology  at  Franciscan  Monastery, 
West  Park,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


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DATE 

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GAYLORD 

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